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A SKETCH 



OF THE 



HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY 



OF 



WEST POINT 



AND THE 



U. S. MILITARY ACADEMY. 



"The means by which wars, as well for defence 

as otfence, are now carried on, render these schools 

of the more scientific operations an indispensable 

pan of every adequate system." 

Madison. 



BY ROSWELL PARK, A. M. 



PHILADELPHIA: . • 

HENRY PERKINS, 134 CHESTNUT STREET. 
1840. 



Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
1840, by Henry Perkins, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 






C. Sherman & Co. Printers, 
19 St. James Street. 



TO 



THE DIALECTIC SOCIETY 



OF THE 



U. S. MILITARY ACADEMY, 



THESE PAGES ARE 



3^espectfull2 KnsctfftetJ 



BY 



THE AUTHOR. 



THE HISTORY 



OF 



WEST POINT. 



Few places in our own country, or even in 
the wide world, are connected with more 
interesting associations than that w^hich it is 
our present purpose to describe. Hallowed 
by the footsteps of Washington and Kosci- 
uszko, adorned by nature with surpassing 
variety of scenery, consecrated by a nation 
to the Spartan-like training of her chosen 
youth for military service, and secluded as 
it were purposely for retirement and study, 
it seems alike calculated to please the sage 
and the hero, to elevate the soul, and to in- 
spire it with patriotic emotions. 

West Point is situated among the High- 
lands about fifty-five miles north of New 
York city; being, as its name indicates, a 
point of land projecting into the Hudson 

1* 



6 



river on the west side. It seems to have 
interrupted the southward course of the 
Hudson, which on meeting and fronting it, 
turns suddenly to the east, forming an elbow, 
until, having passed the obstacle, it resumes 
its previous course. The eastern margin of 
West Point is a straight precipitous shore ; 
while the northern side has a more gentle 
slope, and commands the view up the river. 
On the opposite side, towards the north, is 
a corresponding rocky projection, connected 
by a salt marsh with the eastern shore, and 
known bv the name of Constitution Island, 
West Point, properly so called, is chiefly a 
level plain, widest on the north, narrowing 
towards the south, and flanked on the west 
by rocky heights, of which Mount Indepen- 
dence, the site of Fort Putnam, is the nearest 
and most prominent. The plain contains 
about one hundred and sixty acres; and is 
about one hundred and sixty feet above the 
level of the river, being highest at the north- 
eastern angle, the site of Fort Clinton. 

Looking from West Point towards the 
north, the fine town of Newburgh, eight 
miles distant, is seen through the wild vista 



formed by the rupture of the Highland range, 
where the Hudson passes tlirough what might 
be appropriately termed the Water Gap of the 
Highlands. On the east side of this Gap is 
Bull's Hill, and farther north Breakneck Hill, 
bevond which is the villa2;e of Fishkill. On the 
west side of the Gap is the Crow's Nest, and 
farther north Butter Hill, beyond which, near 
the river, are the villages of New Windsor 
and Canterbury. A road leads westward 
from West Point, breaking through the moun- 
tains, known as the Canterbury road ; and 
another runs southward, not far from the 
shore, leading to Forts Montgomery on the 
north side, and Clinton on the south side of 
Polopen's Creek, at its entrance into the 
Hudson, six miles south of West Point. 
South of these forts, about six niiles farther, 
is the memorable Stony Point ; between 
which and the preceding forts is the hill 
called Dunderbers; or Thunder Hill. Below 
West Point, on the east side, is the mountain 
called Anthony's Nose, about six miles dis- 
tant; and one mile south of it is Fort Inde- 
pendence, east of which lies the village of 
Peekskill. Verplanck's Point, about ten miles 



8 



south of West Point, is nearly opposite to 
Stony Point, connecting with it by King^s 
Ferry. The margin of the river opposite to 
West Point is a high level plain, but at some 
distance farther east is Sugar Loaf Hill, be- 
tween which and Anthony's Nose was Con- 
tinental Village, about five miles southeast of 
West Point. Buttermilk Falls are about a 
mile and a half below West Point, on the 
west side ; and Robinson's House, about two 
miles below on the east side, was for some 
time Washington's head-quarters. Opposite 
to West Point, towards the northeast, are 
extensive iron works, and between these and 
Bull's Hill, on the north, is the village of Cold 
Spring. On the northwestern slope of West 
Point, fronting a slight bay of the river, is the 
suburb or hamlet called Camp Town, in- 
cluding buildings erected for military store- 
houses during the revolution, and others now 
occupied by soldiers, and subordinates of the 
academy. Farther north, at the extremity 
of an elevated plain called the German Flats, 
is the West Point Cemetery ; and just north of 
this, is a sequestered nook called Washing- 
ton's Valley, in which formerly stood a house 



actually occupied by Washington during a 
portion of the time of the Revolution. We 
have thus named the principal locaUties of 
this interesting region ; but to describe its 
grandeur, and the wild and romantic beauty 
of its scenery, would far transcend the limits 
of this sketch, or the powers of our pen. 
They must be seen and dwelt upon, in order 
to be fully realized. The present buildings 
and locahties of West Point proper, will be 
described in connexion with the Military 
Academy. 

West Point proper was originally granted 
by the British Crown to Captain John Evans; 
but afterwards vacated and reassumed by the 
Crown, which finally granted it to Charles 
Congreve^ May 17, 1723, on condition that it 
should be actually settled within three years 
from that date. Another portion, originally 
patented to Evans, adjoining the southwest 
corner of the preceding, was patented to 
John Moore, March 25, 1747, on a like con- 
dition of settlement within three years. The 
patent of Congreve having been purchased 
by Moore, both patents descended by will to 
Stephen Moore of North Carolina, by whom 



10 



they were deeded to the United States, Sep- 
tember 10, 1790, in accordance with an Act 
of Congress of July 5, the same year. The 
tract adjoining Congreve's patent, on the 
south, was one of those granted to Gabriel 
and WiUiam Ludlow, October 18, 1731; and 
it was finally purchased by the United States 
from Oliver Gridley of New Jersey, May 13, 
1824. The jurisdiction of West Point was 
ceded by New York to the United States, 
March 2, 1826; reserving the usual right of 
serving civil or criminal process there. 

For information concerning the fortifica- 
tions at West Point we are chiefly indebted 
to Sparks's Writings of Washington, a work 
of inestimable value. It appears that Fort 
Constitution, on the island or point of that 
name, was already in existence, in July, 1776; 
when General George Clinton garrisoned it, 
and collected sloops and boats there, to form 
a chain of them across the river, but with 
the intention of burning them, if the enemy 
should break through.* His brother, Colonel 
James Clinton, had been stationed for several 

* Sparks, iii. 469. 



11 



weeks at Fort Constitution, superintending 
the construction of military works in the 
Highlands.* In October of the same year, 
the same gentleman, then a brigadier-general 
in the continental service, was placed in com- 
mand of the Highland posts.^ A chain was 
stretched across the river, opposite Fort 
Montgomery, as a barrier against the enemy's 
shipping ; but this fell into the enemy's hands 
on their capture of Forts Montgomery and 
Clinton, October 6, 1777 ; and they having 
then the command of the river, Fort Consti- 
tution was evacuated by our troops. The 
enemy demolished Forts Constitution and 
Montgomery, but were repairing Fort Clin- 
ton, till the announcement of Burgoyne's cap- 
ture, when they abandoned it, October 26, 
and sailed down the river.*^ '' On the 5th of 
November, 1777, Congress appointed Gene- 
ral Gates to command in the Highlands, or 
rather connected that post with the northern 
department, and invested him with ample 
powers to carry on the works ; but as he 
was soon after made President of the Board 
of War, he never entered upon these duties.'"^ 

a Sparks, iii. 469. ^ lb. iv. 149. 

« lb. V. 104 and 123. ^ lb. v. 282. 



12 



The commander in the Highlands during 
this period was General Israel Putnam, who 
had been ordered there as early as May 24, 
1777 ; and continued there until his command 
was suspended, and General McDougall or- 
dered to succeed him, March 16, 1778.^ 

On the 2d of December, 1777, Washington 
wrote to General Putnam concerning the 
importance of fortifying the North River, in 
order to secure the intercourse of the eastern 
states with the middle and southern, and to 
protect the country above the Highlands 
against farther ravages of the enemy. " Seize 
the present opportunity," said Washington, 
" and employ your whole force, and all the 
means in your power for erecting and com- 
pleting, as far as it shall be possible, such 
works and obstructions as may be necessary 
to defend and secure the river against any 
future attempts jo[ the enem}'-. You will con- 
suit Governor Clinton, General Parsons, and 
the French engineer, Colonel Radiere, upoo 
the occasion.'"* Washinorton also wrote to 
General Gates, in general terms, and to Go^ 
vernor Clinton particularly on this subject ; 

* Sparks, iv. 434 ; and v. 283. ^^ lb. v. 176, 7. 



13 



and the latter, in reply, December 20, 1777, 
recommended that a " strong fortress should 
be erected at West Point, opposite to Fort 
Constitution." This, says Mr. Sparks, " was 
probably the first suggestion, from any official 
source, which led to the fortifying of that 
post."^ Washington wrote again from Val->-^ 
ley Forge, January 25, 1778, urging upon 
General Putnam the vigorous prosecution of 
the works on the North River.** 

Mr. Sparks states in a note,*^ that " the 
forts and other works in the Highlands were 
entirely demolished by the British ; and it 
now became a question of some importance, 
whether they should be restored in theii' for- 
mer positions, or new places should be se- 
lected for that purpose. About the beginning 
of January, 1778, the grounds were exa- 
mined by General Putnam, Governor Clinton, 
General James Clinton, and several other 
gentlemen, among whom was Radiere, the 
French engineer ; and they were all, except 
Radiere, united in the opinion, that West 
Point was the most eligible place to be forti- 

=» Sparks, V. 178. " Ik v. 223. <= lb. v. 224. 

2 



14 



fied. Radiere opposed this decision with con- 
siderable vehemence, and drew up a memo- 
rial, designed to show that the site of Fort 
Clinton possessed advantages much superior 
to West Point. As the engineer was a man 
of science, and had the confidence of Con- 
gress and the commander-in-chief, it was 
deemed expedient by General Putnam to 
consult the Council and Assembly of New 
York, before he came to a final determina- 
tion. A committee was appointed by those 
bodies, who spent three days reconnoitring 
the borders of the river in the Highlands, and 
they were unanimous in favour of West 
Point, agreeing herein with every other per- 
son authorized to act in the affair, except the 
engineer. It was accordingly decided, on 
the 13th of January, that the fortifications 
should be erected at West Point."* Colonel 
Radiere was still, however, regarded as a 
valuable officer, and continued in the service 
of the United States till his death in 1780.^ 

On the 13th of February, 1778, General 
Putnam wrote in reply to the commander-in- 

» Sparks, V. 224. "lb. vi. 431. 



15 



chief, that the chain and necessary anchors 
were contracted for, and would probably be 
ready by the 1st of April; to which state- 
ment he added the following : " Parts of the 
boom intended to have been used at Fort 
Montgomery, sufficient for this place, are re- 
maining. Some of the iron is exceedingly 
bad ; this I hope to have replaced with good 
iron soon. The chevaux-de-frise will be com- 
pleted by the time the river will admit of 
sinking them. The batteries near the water, 
and the fort to cover them, are laid out. The 
latter is, within the walls, six hundred yards 
around, twenty-one feet base, fourteen feet 
high, the talus two inches to the foot. This, 
I fear, is too large to be completed by the time 
expected. Governor Clinton and the com- 
mittee have agreed to this plan, and nothing 
on my part shall be wanting to complete it in 
the best and most expeditious manner. Bar- 
racks and huts for about three hundred men 
are completed, and barracks for about the 
same number are nearly covered. A road 
to the river has been made with great diffi- 
culty."* The fort here alluded to, was evi- 

» Sparks, v. 224, 5. 



16 



dently the new Fort Clinton, and the road was 
doubtless that leading down to Gee's Point, 
at the extreme angle of West Point. 

On the 18th of February, 1778, Congress 
requested Governor Clinton to take the imme- 
diate charge of these fortifications ; but his 
civil duties preventing this, the works, during 
General Putnam's absence in Connecticut, 
were left under the charge of General Par- 
sons, till the arrival of General McDougall ; 
who " took the command on the 28th of 
March. Two days previously, Kosciuszko 
arrived, who had been appointed engineer in 
the place of Radiere. From that time the 
works were pressed forward with spirit. To 
the scientific skill and sedulous application of 
Kosciuszko, the public was mainly indebted 
for the construction of the miUtary defences 
at West Point."^ It appears, however, that 
Radiere did not leave immediately; since, on 
the 22d of April, Washington wrote from 
Valley Forge to General McDougall in the 
following terms, " As Colonel Radiere and 
Colonel Kosciuszko will never agree, I think 

» Sparks, V. 282. 



17 



it will be best to order Radiere to return, 
especially as you say Kosciuszko is better 
adapted to the genius and temper of the 
people."* We here take occasion to remark 
that Kosciuszko was educated in the military 
school of Warsaw, and afterwards studied in 
France. He came to America, recommended 
by Franklin to General Washington, whom it 
is said that he attended as an aide-de-camp. 
He was appointed an engineer, October 18, 
1776, and planned General Gates^s encamp- 
ment at Behmus' Heights, in the campaign 
against Burgoyne. 

On the 13th of April, 1778, General McDou- 
gall wrote that the fort was so nearly en- 
closed as to resist a sudden attack of the 
enemy; but the heights near it were such, 
that the fort would not be tenable if the 
enemy should possess them. " For this rea- 
son," he added, " we are obliged to make some 
works on them. It will require five thousand 
men effectually to secure the grounds near the 
fort, which command it. And these objections 
exist against almost all the points on the river, 

» Sparks, v. 334. 
2* 



18 



proper for erecting works to annoy the ship- 
ping. Mr. Kosciuszko is esteemed by those 
who have attended the works at West Point, 
to have more practice than Colonel Radiere, 
and his manner of treating the people is more 
acceptable than that of the latter; which in- 
duced General Parsons and Governor Clinton 
to desire the former may be continued at West 
Point."^ It thus appears that Fort Putnam, 
as well as Fort Clinton, was commenced in 
the early part of 1778. The latter was doubt- 
less named after Governor George Clinton ; 
and Fort Putnam, according to Dr. Thacher, 
was so named " from the general who had 
the principal share in its plan and construc- 
tion. '"^ On the arrival of General Gates to 
command the northern department, General 
McDougall was ordered, April 22, to join the 
main army.*^ 

On the 19th of September, 1778, General 
Washington thus Avrote from Fort Clinton to 
General Duportail, the chief engineer, "I have 
perused the memorial, which you delivered, 
relative to the defence of the North River at 

« Sparks, v. 311. ^ Tfiacher's Military Journal, p. 258. 
c Sparks, v. 333. 



19 



this place, and, upon a view of it, highly ap- 
prove what you have offered upon the subject. 
Colonel Kosciuszko, who was charged by- 
Congress with the direction of the forts and 
batteries, has already made such a progress 
in the constructing of them, as would render 
any alteration in the general plan a work of 
too much time, and the favourable testimony 
which you have given of Colonel Kosciuszko's 
abilities, prevents uneasiness on this head; but 
whatever amendments, subordinate to the ge- 
neral disposition, shall occur as proper to be 
made, you will be pleased to point out to 
Colonel Kosciuszko, that they may be carried 
into execution. The works proposed on the 
peninsula, not being subject to the above men- 
tioned inconveniences, you will desire Colonel 
Kosciuszko to show you his plans for appro- 
bation, before he proceeds to the construction, 
or have them traced in the first instance con- 
formably to your own ideas."* Soon after 
this, or prior to October 3d, Washington, ap- 

» Sparks, vi, 67, 8. General Duportail was appointed 
chief engineer, we believe, in the autumn of 1777; and 
continued in that station till he left the service, in the 
autumn of 1783. Sparks, v, 141. 



20 



prehending danger to West Point, ordered 
General Putnam to cross the river for its 
immediate security; but his stay there was 
short, as he was appointed to command at 
Danbury, Connecticut, in the following winter; 
and the command of West Point was assigned 
to General McDougall.^ In June, 1779, when 
the enemy took new possession of Stony Point, 
General McDougall was again transferred to 
the command at West Point, and three bri- 
gades were stationed on the opposite side of 
the river, under the command of General 
Heath, with orders to send parties across 
daily to work on the fortifications.^ 

On the 21st of July, 1779, five days after 
the capture of Stony Point by General Wayne, 
Washington removed his head-quarters from 
New Windsor to West Point, and remained 
there till December, when the army went into 
winter quarters. " It was during this period," 
says Mr. Sparks, "that the strong works 
at West Point and its vicinity were chiefly 
constructed. Part of the time, two thousand 
five hundred men were daily on fatigue duty. 

» Sparks, vi. 75 and 125. ^ lb. vi. 276. 



21 



The right wing of the army, consisting of the 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia troops, 
was commanded by General Putnam ; the left 
wing, composed of the Connecticut brigades, 
and some of the Massachusetts regiments, 
was under General Heath, and posted in the 
Highlands on the east side of the river. The 
centre, or garrison of West Point, was under 
the immediate command of General McDou- 
gall."^ On the removal of head-quarters to 
Morristown, General Heath was left in com- 
mand at West Point; and February 16, 1780, 
Washington wrote to him concerning the fre- 
quency of fires at that post; suggesting means 
for their prevention* He adds, " The posts 
at the Highlands are of so much consequence 

3 Sparks, vi. 304. By an extract from Washington's 
Order- Book, it appears that on the 30th of July, 1779, the 
otficers appointed to superintend the different works, wore 
as follows. " Lieutenant-Colonel Howard, with Lieutenant 
Hugo as his assistant; the redoubts assig-ned to General 
Sinallvvood's brigade. Lieutenant-Colonfl Williams, with 
Captain Gosner, Fort Putnam and Fort Webb. Colonel 
Tupper, with Captain Drew, the works at the Point, [in- 
cluding Fort Clinton]. Captain Hull and Captain Tatum, 
the works on Constitution Island. Major Troop, with 
Captain Holmes, the works on the east side of the river.** 



22 



to the people of the State of New York, that 
I am convinced they will readily afford every 
assistance towards the safety and security of 
the works."* 

In the spring of 1780, General Heath was 
appointed on recruiting service, and about the 
13th of April, the command of West Point 
was entrusted to General Robert Howe.** 
On the 1st of June, Washington wrote to 
General How^e, expressing his suspicions that 
the enemy meditated an attack on West 
Point; and on the 10th of June he added, 
" You do well to consider the post of West 
Point as the capital object of your attention, 
and every other as secondary. This is pecu- 
liarly necessary at the present moment, as 
there are circumstances that authorize a sus- 
picion of something being intended against 
that post. I would therefore have you by 
all means keep your force collected in such 
a manner, that there may not be a possibility 
of your being found in a divided state, in 
case of a sudden movement of the enemy 
your way." He added, " You will order 

» Sparks, vi. 467. ^Ib.vii. 16. 



23 



Colonel Hay to detain the ship carpenters 
in his employ, even if the business now in 
hand should be finished ; for we shall have 
essential need of their services hereafter."* 

Again, on the 15th of June, Washington 
thus wrote to General Howe from Springfield, 
N. J. " If the enemy's designs should be 
against this army, you may be useful to us, 
by making a demonstration in your quarter. 
I would therefore have you collect a number 
of boats at West Point, sufficient for two 
thousand men ; put the garrison under moving 
orders with three days' provisions ; circulate 
ideas of having the militia ready for a sudden 
call," &c. ; the object being to alarm the 
enemy in New York city.^ Again, on the 
21st of June, Washington wrote to General 
Howe, " From the immense importance of 
the post under your direction, I wish, as ex- 
pressed in my letter of the 15th, that you 
may have and keep your force completed to 
two thousand five hundred efficient men." 
The extracts here given will suffice to show 
the solicitude of Washington for the safety 

» Sparks, vii. 69 and 74, 5. ^ lb. vii. 78. 



24 



of West Point ; and others of the same tenor, 
and of nearly the same date, are accordingly 
omitted. 

On the 22d of June, 1780, Mr. Robert R. 
Livingston wrote to Washington* expressing 
his fears that General Howe, in case of an 
exigency, would not inspire sufficient confi- 
dence in the New York militia ; and solicit- 
ing the command for General Arnolds This 
was doubtless at the suggestion of the latter, 
who inspected the works at West Point on 
the 30th of June ; with what motives we may 
judge from the result. On the 29th of June, 
Washington wrote in reply to Mr. Livingston, 
saying, " I am under no apprehension now 
of danger to the post at West Point, on the 
score either of provisions, the strength of the 
works, or of the garrison. I am sorry, how- 
ever, to find there are apprehensions on ac- 
count of the commandant, and that my know- 
ledge of him does not enable me to form any 
decisive judgment of his fitness to command ; 
but as General McDougall and Baron Steu- 
ben, men of approved bravery, are both with 
him, and the main army is within supporting 
distance, I confess I have no fear on the 



25 



ground of what I presume is suspected. To 
remove him, therefore, under these circum- 
stances, and at this period, must be too severe 
a wound to the feehngs of any officer, to be 
given but in cases of real necessity."* It is 
unnecessary to add that these aspersions of a 
worthy character were unjust, and probably 
prompted by him who would have bartered 
his country's freedom for base revenge or 
paltry gold. 

On the 3d of August, Washington WTote 
in reply to a letter from Colonel Kosciuszko, 
saying, " The artificers are drawn from the 
post at West Point for a particular and tem- 
porary service only ; and as there is a neces- 
sity for a gentleman in the engineering de- 
partment to remain constantly at that post, 
and as you, from your long residence there, 
are particularly well acquainted with the na- 
ture of the works, and the plans for their 
completion, it was my intention that you 
should continue. The infantry corps was 
arranged before the receipt of your letter. 
The southern army, by the captivity of Gene- 

a Sparks, vii. 94, 5. 
8 



26 



ral Duportail and the other gentlemen of that 
branch, is without an engineer ; and as you 
seem to express a wish for going there, rather 
than remaining at West Point, I shall, if you 
prefer it to your present appointment, have 
no objection to your going." This permis- 
sion Kosciuszko immediately accepted.* 

On the same day last mentioned, August 3, 
1780, Washington wrote from head-quarters 
at Peekskill, directing General Arnold to 
** proceed to West Point, and take the com- 
mand of that post and its dependencies," ex- 
tending from Fishkill to King's Ferry. This 
was in consequence of Arnold's dissatisfaction 
with his appointment to the command of the 
left wing of the main army, and the complaint 
that his wound would not allow him to act 
in the field.^ Washington wrote his last 
letter to iVrnold on the 14th of September ; 
and on the 18th he set out for Hartford, to 
have an interview with Count de Rocham- 
beau, and the ChevaHer de Ternay ; meeting 
Arnold at King's Ferry on his way. He 
returned from Hartford, and reached Robin- 

> Sparks, vii. 141. t lb. vii. 139. 



27 



son's House about noon on the 25th Septem- 
ber ; and not finding Arnold there, went over 
to West Point in the afternoon, but without 
finding him. On returning to Robinson's 
House towards evening, he discovered the 
plot, which, if perpetrated, w^ould perhaps 
have been the death-blow to American inde- 
pendence. Arnold had just escaped ; his 
boat having been hardly out of sight when 
Washington first arrived. The latter imme- 
diately wrote to Colonel Wade, then senior 
officer at West Point, to assume the com- 
mand and be vigilant ; as also to Major Low 
at Fishkill ; to Lieutenant-Colonel Livingston 
at Stony Point ; to Lieutenant-Colonel Jame- 
son, who then had the custody of Major 
Andre ; and to Lieutenant-Colonel Gray and 
General Greene, directing the latter to ad- 
vance their respective forces, for the safety 
of West Point.^ The particulars of Arnold's 
treason and escape, and of Andre's capture 
and execution, are too voluminous and too 
well known, to require to be here repeated ; 
but they will be found at some length in the 

' Sparks vli. 212, 19. 



28 



Encyclopaedia Americana ; in Marshall's Life 
of Washington ; and especially in Sparks's 
Life and Treason of Benedict Arnold, vol. iii. 
of the Library of American Biography. We 
will only add that Andre was taken at Tarry- 
town, September 23d ; sent to Salem on the 
same day ; thence to West Point on the 26th ; 
and on the 28th, he was sent to Tappan, then 
the head-quarters of the American army. He 
was examined on the 29th, condemned on the 
30th, and executed as a spy on the 2d of Oc- 
tober, deeply lamented even by his captors. 
The dispositions made by Arnold, in dispers- 
ing the troops, distributing them in dangerous 
gorges, and leaving the passes feebly guarded, 
were such that, but for Providential inter- 
ference, West Point must have fallen into the 
hands of the enemy. 

On the 27th of September, 1780, General 
McDougall was placed in command of West 
Point, till the arrival of General St. Clair; 
who was instructed on the 1st of October to 
relieve him from that command.^ On the 5th 
of October, General Greene wrote to Wash- 

» Sparks, vii. 221, 2. 



29 



ington, soliciting the command of West Point; 
"Vi'hich was conferred upon him on the fol- 
lowing day. He was directed to exert him- 
self to complete the works, and to put them 
in the most perfect state of defence; and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Gouvion was ordered to 
join him for this purpose with his corps.* On 
the 14th of October, 1780, General Greene 
having been appointed, at the request of the 
southern states, to command the southern 
army, the command of West Point was en- 
trusted to General Heath; who arrived on 
the 16th, and continued there through the 
following winter, so memorable for the dis- 
tress of all the troops, and the consequent 
mutiny of the Pennsylvania line.^ On the 
19th of August, 1781, General Heath was 
entrusted with the command of the whole de- 
partment, including West Point ; and he re- 
mained in command of that post until the 
following year.*" But on the 29th of August, 
1782, General Knox was appointed to the 
command of West Point, and instructed to 
pay particular attention to the public build- 

» Sparks, vii. 232, 3. »> lb. vii. 259 and 374. 

« lb. viii. 136. 

3* 



30 



ings then in progress, and to the alterations 
and repairs of the works.^ 

On the 24th of June, 1783, after the con- 
clusion of the war, Washington thus wrote 
from Newburgh to the President of Congress. 
" The army being thus reduced to merely a 
competent garrison for West Point, that being 
the only object of importance in this quarter, 
and it being necessar}^ to employ a conside- 
rable part of the men in building an arsenal 
and magazines at that post, agreeably to the 
directions given by the secretary at war, the 
troops accordingly broke up the cantonment 
yesterday, and removed to that garrison, 
where General Knox still retains the com- 
mand. '"* 

General Knox, with the troops under his 
command, was ordered to New York to re- 
ceive the surrender of that city when it was 
evacuated by the British, on the 25th of No- 
vember, 1783; but they soon returned to 
West Point, where he continued his head- 
quarters, and was engaged in the preserva- 
tion of the ordnance and other military 
stores,*^ until he was relieved, as we are 

a Sparks, viii. 339, 40. t lb. viii, 456, 7. 

<= lb. viii. 499 and 502, 3. 



31 



otherwise informed, by Captain Flenning with 
a guard of twelve men. This was probably 
not long before he was appointed Secretary 
of War by Congress, in 1785; which office 
he filled during the first six years of Wash- 
ington's administration. 

It appears that a petition was presented 
to Congress, by Stephen Moore, of North 
Carohna, that the United States would pur- 
chase West Point, which had already been 
so long occupied for public purposes. On 
this petition. General Hamilton, then Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, made a favourable re- 
port, June 10, 1790. He quoted the opinion 
of General Knox, the Secretary of War, as 
stated by him in a report to Congress, on the 
31st of July, 1786, that West Point is of the 
most decisive imiportance to the defence of 
the Hudson rivdr, for the following reasons : 
" 1st. The distance across the river is only 
about fourteen hundred feet, a less distance 
by far than at any other part. 2d. The pe- 
culiar bend or turn of the river, forming 
alm.ost a re-entering angle, Sd. The high 
banks on both sides of the river, favourable 
for the construction of formidable batteries. 



3^ 



4th. The demonstrated practicability of fixing 
across the river a chain or chains, at a spot 
where vessels, in turning the point, invariably 
lose their rapidity, and of course their force, 
by which a chain at any other part of the 
river would be liable to be broken." These 
considerations, together with the difficulty of 
taking West Point by siege, its being within 
a single night^s sail of New York or Sandy 
Hook, and its importance in preserving the 
communications between the Eastern and 
Middle States, induced General Hamilton to 
recommend its purchase by the United States, 
as a permanent mihtary post, especially for 
purposes of defence.* This purchase, as we 
have already stated, was made soon after. 

The fortifications at West Point were 
afterwards materially improved and repaired 
as late as 1794, under the general superin- 
tendence of Colonel Vincent, and the imme- 
diate direction of Major Niven, both French 
engineers ; the latter assisted by Captain 
Fleming. Major Niven reported, December 
12, 1794, that the old wall of Fort Putnam, 
facing Fort Clinton, had been taken down 

* Am. State Papers, Claims, p. 19,20. 



and rebuilt, enclosing the point, for the ad- 
vantage of enlarging the battery facing the 
ridge where Forts Webb and Willis stood ; 
also, that nine bomb-proof arches Were closed 
over the barracks and magazines, and he had 
hoped to finish four more, but was unable.^ 
Liancourt, in his " Voyage dans les Etats 
Unis," observed, in 1796, on visiting Fort 
Putnam, that thirty-five thousand dollars had 
been uselessly expended, because forty-five 
thousand more were refused by Congress to 
complete the work; and that the walls, half 
done, and the casemates only commenced, 
remained exposed to the effects of the wintry 
weather. 

It may be interesting here to give a brief 
description of the works at West Point, as 
they existed at this period ; and in tliis un- 
finished state they have ever since remained. 
Fort Putnam was an irregular w^ork, occupy- 
ing the summit of Mount Independence, and 
immediately overlooking the plain, with which 
it communicated by a road winding up the 
hiU. It also commanded the view for a great 
distance up the river, and down the same as 

' Am. Stale Paper?, Mil. Affairs, i. 104. 



34 



far as Forts Montgomery and Clinton. The 
entrance was on the east side, which was 
lower than the west, in order to defilade it 
against the higher hills in the rear. The 
west side was a lofty precipice, on which 
and on the north and east sides, the wall was 
of moderate height ; but on the southeast and 
south sides the scarp was very high, and in 
rear of it were several casemates, or vaulted 
rooms, constructed we believe in 1794, over 
which the terrepleine was extended, resting 
on arches bomb proof. It was supplied with 
water by an unfailing spring within ihe work, 
and from its peculiar position was deemed 
almost impregnable. The northeast corner 
of Fort Putnam is four hundred and ninety- 
five feet above the level of the river. Of the 
three smaller forts on small eminences be- 
tween this and the river, that nearest to Fort 
Putnam was called Fort Webb; the next, 
Fort Willis ; and that nearest to the river 
was called Fort Meigs. 

Fort Clinton, situated at the northeastern 
angle of the plain, presented regular fortified 
fronts, with earthen ramparts, on the south 
and west ; but the northern and eastern fronts 



35 



were irregular, and adapted to the brow of 
the slopes where the water batteries were 
placed, which this fort was designed to pro- 
tect. These fronts of course had no ditch, 
but a scarp wall of stone on the east, and on 
the north, as far as the citadel or redoubt ex- 
tended, which occupied the northeast corner, 
and was separated by an interior ditch from 
the other part of the work. Both the fort and 
the water batteries were favourably situated 
for opposing the passage of the enemy's 
vessels. 

Fort Constitution, opposite to West Point, 
merits no particular description ; but the 
chain between it and West Point was thus 
described by Dr. Thacher, in his interesting 
Military Journal, under date of September 
26th, 1780. " As additional security, an iron 
chain of immense strength is thrown across 
at the short bend of the river, and fixed to 
huge blocks on each shore, and under the fire 
of batteries on both sides of the river. The 
Hnks of this chain [several of which, we may 
add, still remain at the Military Academy,] 
are about twelve inches wide, and eighteen 
long, the bars about two inches square. It is 



36 



buoyed up by very large logs, of about six- 
teen feet long, pointed at the ends, to lessen 
their opposition to the force of the current at 
flood and ebb tide. The logs are placed at 
short distances from each other, the chain 
carried over them, and made fast to each by 
staples. There are also a number of anchors 
dropped at proper distances, with cables made 
fast to the chain, to give it greater stability." 
He adds : " Such is the formidable state and 
strength of this post, that it has received the 
appellation of the Gibraltar of America, and, 
w!ien properly guarded, may bid defiance to 
an army of twenty thousand men."^ 

We come now to the history of the Military 
Academy. The first suggestion of this Insti- 
tution, we believe is due to Colonel Pickering, 
as early as the 22d of April, 1783. A com- 
mittee of Congress having been appointed to 
propose a peace establishment for the United 
States, Colonel Hamilton, its chairman, wrote 
to Washington, asking his sentiments on this 
subject; and Washington communicated a 
similar request to the principal officers then 
in camp. From the reply of Colonel Picker- 

* Thacher, p. 258. 



37 



ing, then quarter-master general to the army, 
we make the following extract: " If any thing 
like a military academy in America be prac- 
ticable at this time, it must be grounded on 
the permanent military establishment for our 
frontier posts and arsenals, and the wants of 
the states, separately, of officers to command 
the defences on their sea coasts. On this 
principle it might be expedient to establish a 
military school or academy at West Point. 
And that a competent number of young 
gentlemen might be induced to become 
students, it might be made a rule, that va- 
cancies in the standing regiment should be 
supplied from thence ; those few instances 
excepted where it would be just to promote 
a meritorious sergeant. For this end, the 
number which shall be judged requisite to 
supply vacancies in the standing regiment 
might be fixed, and that of the students, who 
are admitted with an expectation of filling 
them, fixed accordingly. They might be 
allowed subsistence at the public expense. If 
any other youth desired to pursue the same 
studies at the military academy, they might 
be admitted ; only subsisting themselves. 

4 



38 



Those students should be instructed in what 
is usually called military discipline, tactics, 
and the theory and practice of fortification 
and gunnery. The commandant and one or 
two other officers of the standing regiment, 
and the engineers, making West Point their 
general residence, would be masters of the 
academy ; and the inspector-general superin- 
tend the whole."* 

The importance of thorough military in- 
struction, had been deeply felt by Washing- 
ton and his coadjutors in the war of the 
Revolution ; not only in providing efficient 
commanders and engineers, but in disciphn- 
ing the great body of the troops, and in pre- 
paring the militia for effective action, when 
called into service. Prompted by this expe- 
rience. General Knox, the Secretary of War, 
after the establishment of the federal govern- 
ment, digested a plan for the organization and 
instruction of the mihtia, which he submitted 
to the President, January 18, 1790; and 
which Washington laid before Congress, for 
their information, on the 21st of the same 

a Sparks, viii. 417. 



39 



month. He proposed that the militia from 
forty-six to sixty years of age, should form a 
reserved corps; those from twenty-one to forty- 
five the main corps; and those from eighteen to 
twenty, inclusive, the advanced corps; which 
latter should be assembled from ten to thirty 
days annually, to receive military instruction, 
being clothed and subsisted during that time 
by the government. He remarked that "All 
discussions, on the subject of a powerful 
miUtia, will result in one or other of the 
following principles: 1. Either efficient in- 
stitutions must be established for the military 
education of youth, and the knowledge ac- 
quired therein be diffused throughout the 
country by means of rotation ; or, 2. The 
militia must be formed of substitutes, after 
the manner of Great Britain. If the United 
States possess the vigour of mind," he added, 
** to establish the first institution, it may be 
reasonably expected to produce the most un- 
equivocal advantages. A glorious national 
spirit will be introduced, with its extensive 
train of political consequences. But the 
second principle, a militia of substitutes," 
he afterwards observed, *'is pregnant in a 



40 



degree, with the mischiefs of a standing 
army;" alluding to the generally inferior and 
selfish character of mercenary soldiers.** On 
this scheme, which has often been quoted, we 
would merely remark, that the officers re- 
quired to instruct the advanced corps, above 
proposed, would have constituted a military 
academy on the grandest scale, had the plan 
been adopted. And a plan something like 
this we believe to be the only one, which 
could fit the great body of our mihtia for 
immediate efficient service ; if indeed this 
were deemed necessary. 

An act of Congress was passed May 8, 
1792, "more effectually to provide for the 
national defence, by establishing a uniform 
militia throughout the United States;" but 
no provision was made therein for military 
instruction. Washington, therefore, in his 
annual message of December 3d, 1793, sug- 
gested the inquiry whether this act had fully 
accomplished the desired objects, and whether 
a material feature in the improvement of the 
scheme of military defence " ought not to be„ 
to afford an opportunity for the study of those 

• Am. State Papers, Mil. Affairs, i, 6» 8, 



41 



branches of the art, which can scarcely ever 
be attained by practice alone." On this 
point no action was had, that season ; but 
on the 7th (or 9th) of May, 1794, Congress 
passed an act " which provided for a corps 
of artillerists and engineers, to consist of four 
battalions, to each of which eight cadets were 
to be attached ; and made it the duty of the 
Secretary of War to procure, at the public 
expense, the necessary books, instruments, 
and apparatus, for the use and benefit of 
said corps."* This we believe was the first 
introduction of Cadets as a grade of officers 
in our service. The term is derived from 
the French, signifying a junior, and was 
previously applied in England to those young 
gentlemen who were trained for public em- 
ployment, particularly for the service of the 
East India Company. In our army, it has 
always denoted a grade between that of 
lieutenant or ensign and sergeant ; and has, 
we believe, been confined to the students 
connected with the Military Academy, at 
least since its first establishment. 

» Colonel Johnson's Report, p. 3. 
4* 



42 



In his last annual message of December 
7th, 1796, President Washington again in- 
troduced the subject of military instruction, 
in the following explicit terms. " The insti- 
tution of a military academy is also recom- 
mended by cogent reasons. However pacific 
the general policy of a nation may be, it ought 
never to be without an adequate stock of mili- 
tary knowledge for emergencies. The first, 
would impair the energy of its character; 
and both, would hazard its safety, or expose 
it to greater evils, when war could not be 
avoided. Besides, that war might not often 
depend upon its own choice. In proportion 
as the observance of pacific maxims might 
exempt a nation from the necessity of prac- 
tising the rules of the military art, ought to 
be its care in preserving and transmitting, by 
proper establishments, the knowledge of that 
art. Whatever argument maybe drawn from 
particular examples, superficially viewed, a 
thorough examination of the subject will 
evince that the art of war is both compre- 
hensive and complicated; that it demands 
much previous study; and that the possession 
of it in its most improved and perfect state 



43 



is always of great moment to the security 
of a nation. This, therefore, ought to be a 
serious care of every government; and for 
this purpose, an academy, where a regular 
course of instruction is given, is an obvious 
expedient which different nations have suc- 
cessfully employed."* The same was re- 
peated, in substance, in Washington's Ad- 
dress to the Senate, of December 12th, 1796, 
but without any immediate result. 

By an act dated April 27th, 1798, Con- 
gress authorized the raising of an additional 
regiment of artillerists and engineers, thus 
nominally increasing the number of cadets 
to fifty-six; but still without providing any 
instructors. In reference to this act, the 
Secretary of War, Mr. McHenry, thus wrote 
to the Chairman of the Committee of Defence, 
under date of June 28th, same year. " The 
Secretary, without designing to derogate from 
the merits of the officers appointed to the 
corps established by the acts cited, feels it 
his duty to suggest that other, r.nd supple- 
mentary means of instruction, to the books 

* Foreign Relations, iii. 31, 2. 



44 



and instruments to be provided, appear to be 
absolutely indispensable, to enable them to 
acquire a due degree of knowledge, in the 
objects of their corps The know- 
ledge of certain arts and sciences, is abso- 
lutely necessary to the artillerist and engineer; 
such are arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, 

hydraulics, and designing It is 

therefore submitted, whether provision ought 
not to be made for the employment of three 
or four teachers of the enumerated sciences, 
to be attached generally to the two corps of 
artillerists and engineers, and obhgated to 
give instructions and lessons, at such times 
and places, and under such regulations, as 
the President may direct."^ Accordingly, 
on the 16th of July, 1798, an act was 
passed, to augment the army, and for other 
purposes, by which the President was au- 
thorized to appoint four teachers of the arts 
and sciences necessary for the instruction of 
the artillerists and engineers. We are not 
informed however that any such teachers 
were appointed, prior to the year 1801 ; 

» Military Affairs, i. 129. 



45 



probably because the few cadets then ap- 
pointed, were dispersed with their respective 



regiments. 



The subject of military instruction was 
again brought forward by Mr. McHenry, the 
Secretary of War, in a memoir dated January 
5, 1800, and laid before Congress by Presi- 
dent Adams on the 14th of the same month, 
as containing matters in which the honour 
and safety of the nation were deeply inte- 
rested. In connexion with the reorganizing 
of the army, he proposed the establishment of 
a military academy, to consist of four schools ; 
one to be called " The Fundamental School ;" 
another, " The School of Engineers and Artil- 
lerists ;" another, " The School of Cavalry and 
Infantry ;" and a fourth, " The School of the 
Navy ;" each to be provided with the proper 
officers, professors, and teachers, with suit- 
able buildings and apparatus. Mr. McHenry 
then adds, *•' The cadets of the army, and a 
certain number of young persons, destined 
for military and naval service, ought to 
study at least two years in the Fundamental 
School ; and if destined for the corps of en- 
gineers or artillerists, or for the navy, two 



46 



years more in the appropriate school ; if for 
the cavalry or infantry, one year more in the 
appropriate school. But persons who, by 
previous instruction elsewhere, may have be- 
come acquainted with some or all the branches 
taught in the FundamxCntal School, may, after 
due examination by the directors and profes- 
sors of that school, be either received then 
for a shorter time, or pass immediately to one 
or other of the schools of practice, according 
to the nature and extent of their acquirements 
and intended destination."^ 

In a supplementary report, dated January 
31st, but transmitted to the House of Repre- 
sentatives, February 13th, of the same year, 
Mr. McHenry gave an estimate of the ex- 
pense of the whole establishment ; urging its 
importance, and the need which the country 
had of skilful engineers, by a long and cogent 
argument. The whole report, he observed, 
" contemplates certain military schools as an 
essential mean, in conjunction with a small 
military establishment, to prepare for, and 
perpetuate to the United States, at a very 

» Mil. Affairs, i. 133. 



47 



moderate expense, a body of scientific officers 
and engineers, adequate to any future exi- 
gency, qualified to discipline for the field, in 
the shortest time, the most extended armies, 
and to give the most decisive and useful ef- 
fects to their operations.'"^ A bill in accord- 
ance with the above plan was introduced 
into the House of Representatives, March 
19th, 1800, but postponed on the 28th of 
April, of the same year. The subject was 
renewed, however, in the following year, 
when, December 30th, 1801, the House of 
Representatives passed a resolution in favour 
of reducing the mihtary establishment of the 
United States.^ 

On the 11th of January, 1802, the bill was 
reported, and, March 16th, in the same year, 
the act was passed, " fixing the military esta- 
blishment of the United States," and estabhsh- 
ing the Military Academy. By this act the 
artillerists and engineers were made to con- 
stitute two distinct corps ; forty cadets being 
attached to the former, and ten to the latter. 
The corps of engineers was made to consist of 

* Mil. Affairs, i. 140. ^ Smith's Report, p. 6. 



48 



one engineer with the pay, rank, and emolu- 
ments of a major; two assistant engineers 
with the rank of captains ; two others, first 
lieutenants ; and two others, second heute- 
nants ; besides the ten cadets above men- 
tioned, with the pay of sixteen dollars per 
month, and two rations per day. The 27th 
section provided that " The said corps, when 
so organized, shall be established at West 
Point, in the State of New York, and shall 
consiitute a Military Academy ; and the engi- 
neers, assistant engineers, and cadets, shall 
be subject, at all times, to do duty in such 
places, and on such service, as the President 
of the United States shall direct."* It also 
provided that the senior engineer officer pre- 
sent should be the superintendent of the Aca- 
demy ; and authorized the Secretary of War 
to procure, at the public expense, the neces- 
sary books, implements, and apparatus, for 
the use and benefit of the institution. In the 
following year, another act, dated 28th of 
February, 1803, empowered the President to 
appoint one teacher of the French language, 
and one teacher of drawing. 

* Johnson's Report, p. 5. 



49 



The early state and progress of the Aca- 
demy were thus described by Colonel Jonathan 
WilHams, then chief engineer, in a report re- 
quested by the President, and dated March 
14, 1808. "This institution was established 
at West Point, in the year 1801, under the 
direction of a private citizen, and was nothing 
more than a mathematical school for the few 
cadets that were then in service. It was 
soon found that the gavernment of young 
military men was incompatible with the ordi- 
nary system of schools, and consequently, 
this institution ran into disorder, and the 
teacher into contempt. When the peace 
estabUshment was made, ... it was not pro- 
bably foreseen, that, although the head-quar- 
ters of the corps might be at West Point, yet 
the duties of the individual officers necessarily 
spread them along our coast, from one extre- 
mity of the United States to the other ; and 
as the whole number of officers can be na 
more than sixteen, they could not, in their 
dispersed state, constitute a military aca- 
demy. ... A part only of the officers were 
appointed soon after the passage of the act, 

5 



50 



of whom the major, who was ex-officio the 
chief engineer, and two captains, took charge 
of the academy, the students of which were 
the cadets belonging to the regiment of artil- 
lery. The major occasionally read lectures 
on fortifications, gave practical lessons in the 
field, and taught the use of instruments gene- 
rally. The two captains taught mathematics ; 
the one in the line of geometrical, the other 
in that of algebraicaUdemonstrations. 

" As the corps was small, as it had little 
or nothing to do in its more appropriate pro- 
fessional duties, and as the students were few, 
the institution went on producing all the eflfect 
in its power, and all that could be expected, 
on its limited scale. It was soon discovered 
that mere mathematics would not make either 
an artillerist or an engineer; and a power 
was given by law to appoint a teacher of 
drawing and of the French language. Had 
this law, instead of absolutely limiting the 
number of teachers, and designating their 
duties, left it general in the discretion of the 
President, to appoint such and so many as 
he might find requisite to produce the eflfect 
contemplated by the estabhshment, and left 



51 



the internal organization to him who, from 
constant observation, could judge of the most 
expedient one, with a reasonable but ample 
appropriation, we should, at this day, have a 
greater number of well-instructed young offi- 
cers than we can boast of. From that time 
to this, however, the Academy has progressed 
beyond what could have been expected from 
its means ; but now the first mathematical 
teacher has resigned, and the second has for 
several years been employed as Surveyor- 
General of the United States in the western 
country. 

" During the last year, a citizen, of eminent 
talents as a mathematician, has been em- 
ployed as principal teacher, and a first lieu- 
tenant of engineers performed the duties of as- 
sistant teacher, while the professor of French 
and drawing confined his abilities to these 
branches. So far as talents can go, nothing 
is wanting as to these teachers ; they are all 
capable in the highest degree : the subscriber 
is only apprehensive that he shall not be able 
to retain them. Mr. Hassler, the chief mathe- 
matician, is already designated for a survey 
of the coast, when circumstances shall permit 



52 



that business to be undertaken, and it could 
not be committed to more able hands. Mr. 
Mason [De Masson], the professor of French 
and drawing, is a man of too great and too 
extensive abilities to be kept in a situation so 
much below his merit; this gentleman, being 
perfect master of the French and English 
languages, fully acquainted with all that has 
been written on the art of fortification, and 
eminently distinguished in science and gene- 
ral erudition, ought, in the opinion of the sub- 
scriber, to be placed at the head of what the 
French call Le Genie, which cannot be lite- 
rally translated in its extensive sense. It sig- 
nifies the art of an engineer, generally, in all 
its branches. Mr. Mason [De Masson] being 
the only teacher designated by the law, he is 
the only one that, exclusive of the corps of 
engineers, can be said to belong to the insti- 
tution. In short, the military academy, as it 
now stands, is like a foundling, barely exist- 
ing among the mountains, and nurtured at a 
distance out of sight and almost unknown to 
its legitimate parents."* 

» Military Aflfaira, i. 229. 



53 



Colonel Williams concluded his report by 
recommending the creation of an academical 
staff, consisting of the chief engineer, as su- 
perintendent ex-officio, with the power of 
appointing one of the officers or professors 
to do the duties of superintendent in his ab- 
sence ; also a professor of natural and expe- 
rimental philosophy; a professor of mathe- 
matics ; and a professor of engineering, to 
have a drawing teacher, and a French 
teacher, and a German teacher under him ; 
in addition to which he suggested the em- 
ployment of professors of architecture, and, 
during a portion of each year, of chemistry 
and mineralogy, as also of riding, fencing^ 
and sword masters, to attend periodically at 
the academy. 

We may here add, that Colonel Williams 
being senior officer of the corps of engineers, 
was ex-officio superintendent of the Military 
Academy, from its first establishment, until 
his resignation from the service, July 31st, 
1812, Colonel Williams was consul of the 
United States in France, during the war of 
the Revolution ; was appointed to the corps 
of artillerists and engineers about 1799, and 

5* 



54 



served in the Western States, until he received 
the above appointment. He afterwards rose 
to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General, and 
after resigning from the service, resided in 
Philadelphia until his decease, in 1815. The 
teachers at the Academy during his super- 
intendence, were, of mathematics, George 
Barron, appointed January 6th, 1801, and 
dismissed by the President, February 11th, 
1802; Francis R. Hassler, appointed Fe- 
bruary 14th, 1807, who resigned February 
14th, 1810, to superintend the coast survey; 
and Captain Alden Partridge, appointed an, 
assistant in this department, November 4th, 
1806. The teacher of French and drawing 
was Francis De Masson, who was appointed 
July 12th, 1803, and resigned March 31st, 
1812. He was afterwards a teacher in the 
Military College of Sandhurst, England. We 
should add that Christian E. Zoeller acted as 
teacher of drawing from September 1st, 1808, 
to April 30th, 1810, when Mr. De Masson 
again supplied his place, until July 1812.* It 
is stated, we believe on good authority, that 

» Military Affairs, ii. 387. 



55 



Captain William A, Barron of the corps of 
engineers acted as teacher of mathematics ; 
and Captain Jared Mansfield of the same 
corps, as teacher of natural philosophy, com- 
mencing with the year 1802; the former 
being succeeded by Mr. Hassler, in 1807, 
and the latter, though absent some years in 
the West, as Surveyor-General, returning 
afterwards to the Academy, as we shall 
again have occasion to mention. The stu- 
dents at the Academy, in 1802, were Lieu- 
tenants James Wilson and Alexander Ma- 
comb (the latter now major-general), and 
Cadets Joseph G. Swift and Simon M. Levi.* 
Such was the state of this institution, when 
the following special message was submitted 
to Congress, by President Jefferson, on the 
18th of March, 1808. " The scale on which 
the Military Academy at West Point was ori- 
ginally established, is become too limited to 
furnish the number of well instructed sub- 
jects, in the different branches of artillery 
and engineering, which the public service 
calls for. The want of such characters is 

» Military Affairs, ii. 634. 



»6 



already sensibly felt, and will be increased 
with the enlargement of our plans of military 
preparation. The chief engineer having been 
instructed to consider the subject, and to pro- 
pose an augmentation which might render 
the establishment commensurate with the pre- 
sent circumstances of our country, has made 
the report which I now transmit for the con- 
sideration of Congress. The idea suggested 
by him of removing the institution to this 
place, is also worthy of attention. Besides 
the advantage of placing it under the imme- 
diate eye of the government, it may render 
its benefits common to the Naval Depart- 
ment, and will furnish opportunities of select- 
ing, on better information, the characters 
most qualified to fulfil the duties which the 
public service may call for."^ This message 
seems to have produced no immediate result; 
for although an act was passed, approved 
April 12th, 1808, which has been quoted in 
reference to this subject, and although it pro- 
vided for the appointment of 156 additional 
cadets, among the officers of the new troops 

» Military Affairs, i. 228. 



57 



which it authorized to be raised, yet it did 
not attach them to the Military Academy, 
nor make any provision for their instruction. 
Accordingly, the whole number of cadets ap- 
pointed in the four years prior to 1812, we 
believe was only fifty-two. " To send them 
to their regiments without instruction was 
deemed useless ; and to order them to West 
Point could not have been done with pro- 
priety, without making suitable provision for 
the reception and instruction of so great a 
number."^ The proposition for removing 
this institution to Washington, was then, as 
it has ever since been, discarded or rejected. 
The revision of the preceding laws was 
recommended by Mr. Madison, in his annual 
message, dated December 5, 1810, " with a 
view to a more enlarged cultivation and dif- 
fusion of the advantages of such institutions, 
by providing professorships for all the neces- 
sary branches of military instruction, and by 
the establishment of an additional academy, 
at the seat of government or elsewhere. The 
means," he added, " by which wars, as w^ell 

» Military AfFairs, ii. 381. 



58 



for defence as offence, are now carried on, 
render these schools of the more scientific 
operations an indispensable part of every 
adequate system. ... In a country, happily 
without the other opportunities, seminaries 
where the elementary principles of the art of 
war can be taught without actual war, and 
without the expense of extensive and stand- 
ing armies, have the precious advantage of 
uniting an essential preparation against ex- 
ternal dangers, with a scrupulous regard to 
internal safety. In no other way, probably, 
can a provision of equal efficacy for the pub- 
lic defence be made at so little expense, or 
more consistently with the public liberty." 
In the following year, the President again re- 
minded Congress " of the importance of these 
miUtary seminaries, which, in every event, 
will form a valuable and frugal part of our 
military establishment."* 

Accordingly, on the 29th of April, 1812, an 
act was passed, " making further provision 
for the corps of engineers ;" the second sec- 
tion of which provided that the MiUtary 

a Johnson's Report, p. 7. 



59 



Academy should consist of the corps of en- 
gineers and the following professors, " in ad- 
dition to the teachers of the French language 
and drawing already provided," viz. one pro- 
fessor of natural and experimental philosophy; 
one professor of mathematics j and one pro- 
fessor of the art of engineering ; each of them 
to have an assistant professor, taken from the 
most prominent characters of the officers or 
cadets. By the third section of the same law 
it was enacted : " That the cadets heretofore 
appointed in the service of the United States, 
whether of artillery, cavalry, riflemen, or in- 
fantry, or that may in future be appointed, as 
hereinafter provided, shall at no time exceed 
two hundred and fifty ; that they may be at- 
tached, at the discretion of the President of 
the United States, as students, to the Military 
Academy, and be subject to the estabUshed 
regulations thereof: that they shall be ar- 
ranged into companies of non-commissioned 
officers and privates, according to the direc- 
tions of the commandant of engineers, and be 
officered from the said corps, for the purposes 
of military instruction; that there shall be 
added to each company of cadets four mu- 



60 



sicians; and the said corps shall be trained 
and taught all the duties of a private, non- 
commissioned officer, and officer, be en- 
camped at least three months of each year, 
and taught all the duties incident to a regular 
camp ; that the candidates for cadets be not 
under the age of fourteen, nor above the age 
of tw^enty-one years; that each cadet, pre- 
viously to his appointment by the President 
of the United States, shall be well versed in 
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and that he 
shall sign articles, with the consent of his 
parent or guardian, by which he shall engage 
to serve five years, unless sooner discharged: 
and all such cadets shall be entitled to, and 
receive, the pay and emoluments now allowed 
by law to cadets in the corps of engineers." 

The fourth section of the same law pro- 
vided, " That when any cadet shall receive a 
regular degree from the academical staff, 
after going through all the classes, he shall 
be considered among the candidates for a 
commission in any corps, according to the 
duties he may be judged competent to per- 
form ; and in case there shall not, at the time, 
be a vacancy in such corps, he may be at- 



61 



tached to it, at the discretion of the President 
of the United States, by brevet of the lowest 
grade, as a supernumerary officer, with the 
usual pay and emoluments of such grade, 
until a vacancy shall happen : Provided, That 
there shall not be more than one supernume- 
rary officer to any one company, at the same 
time." 

The fifth section appropriated the sum of 
$25,000 tow^ards the buildings, apparatus, 
library, implements, and contingent expenses 
of such an institution ; and thus laid the broad 
basis of the present United States Military 
Academy. 

Under the provisions of this act, the num- 
ber of cadets was progressively enlarged to its 
present complement ; and on the resignation 
of General Williams, July 31st, 1812, the 
superintendence of the Academy devolved on 
Colonel Joseph G. Sivift, (appointed Brevet 
Brigadier General in 1814,) as senior officer 
of the corps of engineers. The act of March 
3d, 1815, by which the army was reduced 
to ten thousand men, made no reduction in 
the Military Academy; but on the other hand, 
Mr. Madison, in his last message, dated De- 

6 



62 



cember 5th, 1815, recommended its enlarge- 
ment, and the establishment of others in 
other sections of the Union. Accordingly, 
during the sessions of Congress in 1815 and 
1817, bills were introduced, in the House of 
Representatives, for creating additional mili- 
tary academies ; but they were not definitively 
acted upon. 

It is stated in the Register of the Military 
Academy, that General Swift was relieved 
January 3d, 1815 ; joined again November 
25th, 1816; and was finally relieved as su- 
perintendent, January 13th, 1817; and that 
Captain Alden Partridge, of the corps of en- 
gineers, was superintendent from January 3d, 
1815,, to November 25th, 1816, and from Ja- 
nuary 13th to July 28th, 181 7» As there ap- 
pears to have been a diflference of opinion 
concerning the office of superintendent during 
this period, we offer here the following ex- 
tracts, by way of explanation. The first is 
from Military Academy orders, of March 
24th, 1814, signed by General Swift; as fol- 
lows. " The Academical regulations of the 
25th May, 1810, are hereby confirmed, and 
will continue to be enforced. Captain Alden 



63 



Partridge, Professor of Engineering, has the 
internal direction and control of the Aca- 
demy, and direction of the steward's depart- 
ment. The academic duties of the cadets, in 
every particular, and of the various Profes- 
sors, Instructors, and Academic Officers, are 
under his control; [and] no other officer of 
the Engineers than Captain Partridge, will 
interfere with the Academy. The Rev. Mr. 
Empie, on his arrival, will commence the 
duties of chaplain ; [and] until a Professor of 
History and Geography be appointed, Mr. 
Empie will discharge the duties of that sta- 
tion. Captain Samuel Perkins, as Deputy 
Quarter-Master General, takes post at West 
Point, and will discharge the duties of Quar- 
ter-Master to the Post and Academy. Mr. 
Isaac Partridge is appointed to discharge the 
duties of Steward, and will immediately com- 
mence the Cadets' Commons." 

The next extract is partly from Regulations 
for the Military Academy, dated January 3d, 
1815, and partly from an Order of the War 
Department, dated February 28tb, 1815; both 
approved and signed by James Monroe, then 
Secretary of War, and the tw^o being sub- 



64 



stantially the same. The former provided 
that " A 'permanent Superintendent shall be 
appointed to the Military Academy, who, 
under the direction of the Secretary of War, 
shall have exclusive control of that institution, 
and of those connected with it, and will be 
held responsible for the conduct and progress 
of it;" and the latter added, he "will direct 
the studies, field exercise, and all other aca- 
demic duties." The former provided that the 
commandant of the corps of engineers should 
be the Inspector of the Academy, and should 
visit it officially, and report thereon to the 
Department of War, proposing such altera- 
tions and improvements as he and the Super- 
intendent might deem necessary. The latter 
added that the Inspector " is responsible to the 
Department of War for the correct progress 
of the institution. From the Inspector only, 
the Superintendent of the Academy will re- 
ceive orders, and to him only will the Super- 
intendent make all returns and communica- 
tions pertaining to the institution. No officer 
of the army, of any rank whatever, shall ex- 
ercise command at West Point, unless subor- 
dinate to the Inspector or Superintendent of 



65 



the Academy." Both the Regulations and 
the Order farther provided for the supply of 
ordnance stores from the ordnance depart- 
ment near Albany, the supply of books and 
stationary by the quarter-master at West 
Point, the appointment of a suitable person to 
act as treasurer for the cadets, and the pro- 
motion of graduates to such corps of the army 
as their diploma might authorize or recom- 
mend. 

A separate' series of *' Rules with respect 
to the Promotion of Cadets of the United 
States Military Academy" was approved by 
Mr. Monroe, probably at about the same 
time; providing that their distribution to the 
different corps, and their rank in the same, 
should depend on their general merit, as 
ascertained by a competent board of exami- 
ners ; and that no cadet should be promoted 
until after having completed his course of 
studies and received his diploma ; nor in case 
of failm'e to do this, should he on any account 
receive an appointment in the army, until 
after the promotion of the class to which he 
belonged ; and, finally, that no cadet who 
should be dismissed, or compelled to resign, 

6* 



66 



on account of idleness, neglect of duty, or 
any species of bad conduct, should be eligible 
to any office or post in the army, until at 
least five years after the promotion of the 
class to which he belonged.* 

The remaining extract is the following, 
from a letter addressed to General Swift, 
dated Department of War, July 1st, 1816, 
and signed by William H. Crawford, then 
Secretary of War. " I have the honour to 
return the regulations defining a complete 
course of education, drawn up by the Acade- 
mical Staff, and transmitted by you to this 
Department, which has been approved, with 
such modifications as have been judged ne- 
cessary by the President. The regulation 
requiring the unmarried professors, teachers, 
and assistants, to eat with the cadets, is be- 
lieved to be conformable to the general usage 
of colleges, and ought not to be considered 
onerous. I understand also that Captain 
Partridge is himself a bachelor, and of course 
subject to the regulation. From his signing 
some of his acts as superintendent of the 

» Mil. Affairs, i. 839. 



67 



academy, he may have supposed that he 
was not embraced by the rule. This, how- 
ever, is a mistake. No officer, as long as 
the law remains as it is, can be the superin- 
tendent of the institution but the principal 
officer of the corps of engineers, or the next 
in command, of that corps, in case of his 
absence. If, however, in your opinion, the 
proposition made by the Academical Staff to 
attend the mess houses, and make dailv re- 
ports of the fare, will protect the cadets from 
imposition, you are authorized to suspend the 
rule until further orders."* A reference to 
the law of 1802, will show, we think, that 
Captain Partridge being the senior engineer 
officer present at the Academy, was legally 
its Superintendent at the time of Mr. Craw- 
ford's communication. 

The professors appointed to the Military 
Academy, from 1812 to 1817 inclusive, were 
the following. Captain Alden Partridge of 
the corps of engineers, was appointed profes- 
sor of mathematics, April 13th, 1813 ; and 
so continued till appointed professor of engi- 

» Military Affairs, i. 838. 



68 



neering, September 1st, 1813, which appoint- 
ment he resigned, December 31st, 1816, on 
assuming the duties of Superintendent. Cap- 
tain Partridge graduated at the Academy in 
1806, and remained there as assistant profes- 
sor, till 1813, as already mentioned. He 
resigned his commission in 1818; and has 
since been superintendent of a private mili- 
tary academy, at Norwich, Vermont, and at 
Middletown, Connecticut. Andrew Ellicott 
"was appointed professor of mathematics, Sep- 
tember 1st, 1813, and so continued till his 
decease, August 29, 1820. Lieutenant John 
Wright was appointed assistant professor of 
mathematics, April 1st, 1814; and Lieutenant 
Charles Davies succeeded him, December 
1st, 1816. Lieutenant-Colonel Jared Mans- 
field, of the corps of engineers, was appointed 
professor of natural and experimental philo- 
sophy, October 7th, 1812, and so continued 
till his resignation, August 31st, 1828. The 
Essays on Mathematics published by Colonel 
Mansfield, attracted the notice of President 
Jefferson, who conferred on him, unsolicited, 
the appointment of captain of engineers, and 
ordered him to West Point as an instructor, 



69 



in 1802. In 1803, he Vv^as appointed Sur- 
veyor-General of the Northwestern Terri- 
tory, and there appUed for the first time the 
system of rectangular co-ordinates in the sur- 
veying and laying out of land. He filled 
this place until 1812; and after his resigna- 
tion in 1828, he resided in Cincinnati until 
his death about two years thereafter. He 
was much beloved ; and his portrait, painted 
at the request and expense of the class which 
graduated in 1829, is still preserved with 
much interest at the Academy. Captain 
David B. Douglass, of the corps of engineers, 
was appointed his assistant, January 1st, 
1815, and so continued till 1821. 

Claude Crozet was appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of engineering, October 1st, 1816; and 
succeeded Captain Partridge as professor of 
that branch, January 1st, 1817; but he re- 
signed this station, April 28th, 1823, and has 
since been chief engineer of the State of Vir- 
ginia. To him the Academy, and we believe 
our country, was indebted for the introduc- 
tion of the black board, as a means of in- 
struction; for the introduction of the impor- 
tant science of descriptive geometry, and its 



70 



various applications, including the topogra- 
phical representation of ground by means of 
horizontal curves, or by pen or colours ; also 
for the introduction of the French analytical 
mathematics ; and for a thorough course in 
the art of war and fortification. He first in- 
structed a few cadets who had sufficient 
knowledge of French, and they became the 
instructors of others. Claudius Berard suc- 
ceeded Mr. De Masson, as teacher of French, 
January 3d, 1815; and we are happy to say> 
has continued in that station till the present 
time. Christian E. Zosller who had before 
acted as teacher of drawing, was reappointed, 
July 1st, 1812, and so continued till his resig- 
nation, January 5th, 1819. Pierre Thomas 
was appointed sword-master, March 1st, 
1814, and resigned December 12th, 1825. 

Rev. Jidam Empie was assigned to duty 
as chaplain at West Point, and acting pro- 
fessor of Ethics, &c., from August 9th, 1813, 
to April 30th, 1817; before this office was 
made a permanent part of the Academy. 
General Joseph G. Swift, who has been 
already mentioned as Superintendent of the 
Academy during a part of this period, was 



71 



one of its first two graduates, in 1802; became 
captain in 1806, aide-de-camp to Major-Ge- 
neral Pinckney in 1812, colonel in the same 
year, and brevet brigadier general in 1814. 
He resigned his commission in 1818, and has 
since been employed by the United States in 
superintending the national improvements on 
Lake Ontario. 

A series of Rules and Regulations for the 
Government of the United States Military 
Academy, was drawn up and approved by 
Mr. Crawford, we believe on the 6th of 
March, 1816. Besides embodying most of 
the preceding regulations, it provided for the 
appointment of a Board of Visiters, to con- 
sist of five suitable gentlemen, who should 
attend each general examination, and report 
thereon, through the Inspector, t^ the Secre- 
tary of War. Of this Board, the Superin- 
tendent was constituted the President. It 
also provided that the General Examinations 
should take place twice in each year, com- 
mencing on the 15ih of July and the 15th 
of December; and that there should be an 
annual vacation, to commence immediately 
after the examination in July, and end on the 



72 



last day of August. New cadets were required 
to join the Academy between the first of Sep- 
tember and October, and to be examined in 
spelHng, reading, writing, and arithmetic. It 
was farther directed that ** A course of studies, 
embracing definitively all the branches of 
science and instruction to be pursued at the 
MiUtary Academy, and also all rules for the 
classification of the cadets, shall be compiled 
by the Superintendent and Academic Staflf; 
which, when approved by the Secretary of 
War, shall be considered as comprising a com- 
plete course of education at the Institution." 
Accordingly, a course of studies, and rules 
connected therewith, was drawn up, at the 
Academy, on the 22d of May, 1816; and 
approved, as we have already seen, by Mr. 
Crawford, on the 1st of July, in the same 
year. The substance of this document is 
contained in the following extract. " The 
course of the ^rs^ year shall embrace Eng- 
lish grammar and composition, and the 
French language; logarithms, algebra, and 
plane geometry, to include ratios and pro- 
portions. The course of the second year 
shall embrace a continuation of the French 



73 



language ; the geometry of planes and solids, 
and the construction of geometrical problems; 
the application of algebra to geometry, and 
the mensuration of planes and solids ; plane 
and spherical trigonometry, with their appli- 
cations ; conic sections, practical geometry, 
and drawing. A course for the third year, 
shall embrace natural and experimental phi- 
losophy, astronomy, engineering, and draw- 
ing continued. A course for the fourth year, 
shall embrace geography, history, and ethics, 
the review of the English grammar, and of 
the Latin and Greek languages ; also a gene- 
ral review of the most important branches 
in each of the departments." Fluxions were 
to be taught and studied at the option of the 
professor and student; the elements of che- 
mistry were included under philosophy ; and 
those of natural and political law, under 
ethics. The Greek and Latin languages 
were to be reviewed only by those who had 
studied them previously to their entering 
the Academy. The military instruction was 
separately referred to, being then taught 
only practically in the field. a A separate 

'■ Am. St. Papers, Mil. Affairs, i. 838. 
7 



74 



General Order was issued June 29th, 1816, 
repeating and defining the quahfications for 
admission to the Academy, as prescribed 
by the act of 1812 ; and another General 
Order was issued, September 4th, 1816, pre- 
scribing the uniform, nearly the same as that 
now prescribed, excepting the common hat 
and cockade then required to be worn. 

It becomes necessary here to present the 
following statement, made by General Ma- 
comb, then Chief Engineer, in a Report to the 
Department of War, dated March 80th, 1822. 
"The Military Academy may be considered 
as having been in its infancy until about the 
close of 1817, or beginning of 1818, prior to 
which there was but little system or regularity. 
Cadets were admitted without examination, 
and without the least regard to their age or 
qualifications, as required by the law of 1812. 
Hence the institution was filled with students 
who were more or less unfit for their situa- 
tions. It is not surprising, therefore, that a 
large portion of them have been under the 
necessity of leaving the Academy without 
completing their education.'"^ 

* Mil. Affairs, ii. 381. 



75 



The same statement had been made in 
substance, in a memoir drawn up by General 
Bernard and Colonel McRee, communicated 
to Congress, January 15th, 1819, by Mr. Cal- 
houn, then Secretary of War ; its object being 
to recommend the establishment of one or 
more Schools of Application, or Practice, 
for the army. They say, " The Elementary 
School at West Point has hitherto been very 
inferior as such, and altogether inadequate to 
the objects for which it was established. A 
project has been presented, however, calcu- 
lated to place this school upon the footing of 
the most perfect of the kind which exists. As 
to a School of Application, there is none. The 
degree of instruction given to the cadets, 
at the school of West Point, has heretofore 
been for the most part limited to a general 
acquaintance with those branches of know- 
ledge which are common to all the arms of 
an army, and which ought to have been ex- 
tended and applied to artillery, fortification, 
and topography. If any have been so fortu- 
nate as to render themselves serviceable, 
either in the artillery or engineers, the cause 
must be sought for in their own industry, and 



76 



not in the education received by them at 
West Point, which was barely sufficient to 
excite a desire for mihtary inquiries, and of 
military pursuits.'"^ That the Academy was 
nevertheless favourably regarded, is proved by 
the fact that Mr. Calhoun, in the same com- 
munication to Congress, January 15th, 1819, 
recommended not only a School of Applica- 
tion, in accordance with the above, but an 
additional mihtary academy, for the southern 
and western states. 

On the 17th of July, 1817, the orders were 
given relieving Captain Partridge as Super- 
intendent of the Military Academy, and 
appointing Major (now Colonel) Sylvanus 
Thayer to succeed him. The change took 
place on the 28th of the same month ; and 
from this period we date the commence- 
ment of the pre-eminent success and reputa- 
tion w^hich the Academy has since enjoyed. 
Colonel Thayer had visited and studied in the 
military schools of France, and profited by the 
opportunity of forming more complete views 
of the management of such an institution than 

» Mil. Affairs, i. 834. 



77 



were then generally entertained, even among 
military men. Under his energetic and judi- 
cious administration, strict discipline was en- 
forced ; the regulations farther improved ; the 
course of studies and exercises extended, and 
thoroughly taught ; the library and apparatus 
increased by choice additions ; and every 
thing done which the means permitted, to 
render the institution worthy of its location 
and its name. Colonel Thayer held this re- 
sponsible station till July 1, 1833 ; when he 
w^as relieved from it, and appointed to su- 
perintend the construction of the important 
fortifications, including the new Fort War- 
ren, in the harbour of Boston, Massachusetts. 
We may here add, that Colonel Thayer, after 
graduating at the Academy in 1808, served 
with distinction in the war of 1812, and was 
breveted a major, for " meritorious and dis- 
tinguished services," particularly in the de- 
fence of Norfolk, Virginia, againstthe British, 
in 1814. This was prior to his yi# to France, 
already referred to. v"' 

Of the professors at West Point during 
Colonel Thayer's superintendence,- this seems 

the proper place to make mention. Rev, 

7* 



78 



Thomas Picton succeeded to the duties of 
chaplain and professor of ethics, &c., July 20, 
1818, some time after Rev. Mr. Empie's re- 
signation. Mr. Picton resigned this office 
January 1, 1825, and we believe has since 
resided in New York city. He was succeeded 
by Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine, who was ap- 
pointed April 6, 1825, but resigned the office 
December 31, 1827, was afterwards settled 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., and is now Bishop of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in Ohio. Under 
his ministry a considerable number of the 
cadets made profession of piety, several of 
whom have since resigned and entered the 
sacred office, one of them being now the Mis- 
sionary Bishop of the Episcopal church in 
Arkansas. Mr. Mcllvaine was succeeded, 
January 1, 1828, by Rev. Thomas Warner^ a 
gentleman of extensive acquirements, who 
held the office until September 1st, 1838; and 
who has since estabhshed a private institu- 
tion for general education in Paris. 

On the resignation of Mr. Crozet, already 
mentioned, as professor of engineering, he was 
succeeded, April 29th, 1823, by David B. 
Douglass, who had previously been assistant 



79 



professor of philosophy, and professor of ma- 
thematics in the Academy. Major Douglass 
resigned this professorship, February 28, 1831, 
and has since been employed as engineer of 
the New York Water Works, as he was pre- 
viously of the Morris Canal in New Jersey. 
Lieutenant Dennis H. Mahan, of the corps of 
engineers, succeeded him, as professor of 
engineering, March 1, 1831 ; having pre- 
viously visited France, and studied some 
time in the Military School at Metz. He 
has published valuable text-books on both the 
civil and military branches of this depart- 
ment, at the head of which he still continues. 
The assistant professors of engineering during 
the period in question, were Lieutenant Con- 
stantino M. Eakin, from 1817 to 1820 ; Lieu- 
tenant Henry Brewerton, from 1820 to 1821 ; 
Lieutenant Jonathan Prescott, from 1821 to 
1822; Lieutenant Edward H. Courtenay, 
from 1822 to 1824; Lieutenant Alfred Mor- 
decai, from 1824 to 1825; Lieutenant Dennis 
H. Mahan, from 1825 to 1826; Lieutenant 
George S. Greene, from 1826 to 1827; Lieu- 
tenant William H. C. Bartlett, from 1827 to 
1829; Lieutenant Charles Mason, from 1829 



80 



to 1831 ; Lieutenant James Allen, from 1831 
to 1832; and Lieutenant Henry E. Prentiss, 
from 1832 to 1833. 

The office of Instructor of Tactics was in- 
troduced at the Academy by Colonel Thayer, 
the duties of the Instructor being to " take the 
immediate command, under the Superinten- 
dent, of the corps of cadets," and " superin- 
tend their instruction, so far as relates to 
Infantry Tactics ;" he being also charged 
with the pohce of the institution. Lieutenant 
G. W. Gardiner was appointed Acting In- 
structor of Tactics, September 15, 1817, and 
succeeded by Captain John Bliss, of the in- 
fantry, who was appointed April 2, 1818, and 
relieved January 11, 1819. Captain John R. 
Bell, of the light artillery, succeeded him, 
February 8, 1819, and continued till March 
17, 1820. He was succeeded by Captain 
(now Colonel) William J. Worth, of the artil- 
lery, who continued in this office from March 
17, 1820, to January 1, 1829. Colonel Worth 
had served on the northern frontier, during the 
war of 1812, and acquired distinction which 
was still farther enhanced by the exact disci- 
pline and miUtary spirit which he enforced 



81 



at the Academy. He was succeeded by Cap- 
tain (now Major) Ethan A. Hitchcock, of the 
infantry, who held the office from January 1, 
1829, to June 24, 1833. Major Hitchcock 
well sustained this station, and has since been 
offered the governorship of Liberia, but pre- 
ferred remaining in the service. The assistant 
instructors of tactics, charged with the imme- 
diate supervision of the academic police, have 
been numerous, and we are compelled here to 
omit their names, though many of them merit 
an honourable record. 

After the resignation of Colonel Mansfield, 
already mentioned, as professor of Natural 
and Experimental Philosophy, he was suc- 
ceeded by Lieutenant Edward H. Coiirtenay, 
of the engineers, who filled this chair in an 
able manner, from September 1, 1828, to De- 
cember 31, 1834. Professor Courtenay had 
been an assistant in this department from 
1821 to 1822, and in engineering, as already 
mentioned, from 1822 to 1824. He has since 
filled the chair of Mathematics in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, and is now in the 
civil service of the United States. The as- 
sistant professors of philosophy, during the 



82 



period now in question, were, besides Cap- 
tain Douglass and Lieutenant Courtenay, 
Lieutenant Charles Da vies, from 1821 to 
1823; Lieutenant S. Stanhope Smith, from 
1823 till his death, in 1828 ; Lieutenant 
Robert P. Parrott, from 1828 to 1829; and 
Lieutenant T. Jefferson Cram, from 1829 to 
1836. 

On the death of Professor ElUcott, he was 
succeeded in the department of Mathematics 
by Captain David B. Douglass, already men- 
tioned, who held the office from August 30, 
1820, to April 29, 1823; when he accepted 
the chair of Engineering. He was succeeded 
by Lieutenant Charles Dames, who had pre- 
viously assisted in this department, and in 
that of Natural Philosophy. Professor Davies 
filled this chair from April 29, 1823, to May 
31, 1837; during which period he pubhshed 
a valuable series of text-books on all the 
branches of mathematics. The assistants 
in this department during Colonel Thayer's 
superintendence, were Lieutenant Charles 
Davies, from 1816 to 1821 ; Lieutenant S. 
Stanhope Smith, from 1821 to 1823; Lieu- 
tenant Horace Webster from 1823 to 1825; 



83 



and Lieutenant Edward C. Ross, from 1825 
to 1833. 

The teachers of French, besides Mr. 
Berard, who continued at the head of this 
branch through the whole time in question, 
were Joseph Du Commun, from March 1, 
1818, to August 31, 1831, when he resigned 
on account of ill health ; and Julian Molinard, 
from September 1, 1831, to September 12, 
1839. In the branch of Drawing, after Mr. 
Zoeller's resignation, Thomas Gimhrede was 
appointed teacher, and held the office from 
January 5, 1819, till his death, December 25, 
1832. He had previously practised the art 
of engraving, and produced some valuable 
prints ; but was peculiarly successful as a 
teacher of the art of drawing ; and alike 
esteemed for his benevolence and urbanity. 

The branch of Chemistry not being made 
a professorship by law during this period, 
was taught at jfirst by assistant surgeons of 
the army, and afterwards by officers of the 
army. The first teacher recorded on the 
catalogue, was James Cutbush, M. D., from 
September 1, 1820, till his death, December 
16th, 1823. A work of his on Pyrotechny 



was published after his decease. James E, 
Percwal, M. D., was teacher of chemistry 
from March 2d to July 6th, 1824; and was 
succeeded by John Torrey, M. D., the distin- 
guished botanist, who held this place from 
August 25th, 1824, till his resignation as a 
surgeon, August 31, 1828. His successor, 
Lieutenant W. Fenn Hopkins^ held this station 
from September 1, 1828, till August 31, 1835. 
The instructors of artillery, for whose office 
we are indebted to Colonel Thayer, were Lieu- 
tenant George W. Gardiner, from September 
15th, 1817, to February 29th, 1820; Captain 
Fahius Whiting, from August 15th, 1820, to 
August 7th, 1821 ; and Lieutenant Zebina J. 
D. Kinsley, from December 18th, 1823, to 
December 1st, 1835. The sword-masters, 
after Mr. Thomas, were Pierre Trainque, 
from December 13th, 1825, till his death, 
June 27th, 1826; Louis S. Sim.on, from 1826 
to 1831 ; and Albert Jumel, from 1831 to 
1837. The leaders of the band, or music 
masters, were Richard Willis, the celebrated 
performer on the Kent bugle, from June 16th, 
1817, to his death, we believe in 1830, and 
Alexander Kyle, his successor. 



85 



We now proceed to speak of the changes 
in the regulations, studies, and organization of 
the Academy, which took place under the 
superintendence of Colonel Thayer. An act 
of Congress was passed, April 14th, 1818, 
providing for a permanent chaplain, at the 
Military Academy, who should be " professor 
of geography, history, and ethics.'' The in- 
troduction of instructors of tactics, artillery, 
and chemistry, has already been alluded to, 
in namina; those instructors. On the 14th 
February, 1818, the following Order was re- 
ceived by the Superintendent, from the Secre- 
tary of War. " As publishing in the Army 
Register the names of cadets who are distin- 
guished for attainments and meritorious con- 
duct may inspire attention to study, and create 
emulous exertion, you will report to this De- 
partment, annually in November, for that ob- 
ject, the names of those who have most dis- 
tinguished themselves in the examination, not 
exceeding five in each class, specifying the 
studies in which they may excel." On the 
15th of April, 1818, by an Order of the Engi- 
neer Department, the Superintendent was au- 
thorized to detail not exceeding four cadets, 

8 



86 



to discharge the duties of acting assistant 
professor of mathematics ; each cadet so de- 
tailed, to receive ten dollars per month as a 
compensation for the extra duty. The appoint- 
ment was to be considered an honourable 
distinction.* 

On the 12th of May, 1818, an Order was 
given from the Engineer Department, that the 
pay and subsistence of all cadets who neglect 
to join the Military Academy at the expira- 
tion of their furloughs should be stopped, un- 
less they assigned the most satisfactory rea- 
sons for their absence ; and that any cadet, 
absent without leave for more than two 
months, should be discharged from the ser- 
vice of the United States. On the 23d of 
July, 1818, the following important regula- 
tions were approved by the Secretary of War. 
*' 1. There shall be two general examinations 
in each year ; the first to commence on the 
1st of January, and the second on the 1st of 
June. 2. All newly-appointed cadets will be 
ordered to join the Military Academy for 
examination by the 25th of June in each year, 

» Mil. Affairs, ii. 26. 



87 



and no cadet shall be examined for admission 
after the first day of September following, 
unless he shall have been prevented from 
joining at the proper time by sickness or 
some other unavoidable cause, in which 
case he may be examined with the fourth 
class, at the general examination in January, 
and if then found qualified to proceed with 
that class, may be admitted accordingly. 
3. Until a revision of the laws relating to the 
Military Academy, there shall be in heu 
of the vacation authorized by the existing 
regulations, an annual encampment, to com- 
mence on the 1st of July, and end on the 
31st of August. 4. The superintendent is 
authorized to grant furloughs to the cadets, 
at the request of their parents, during the 
period of their encampment, provided that 
not more than one fourth of the whole num- 
ber be absent at any one time, and provided 
also that every cadet, previously to his re- 
ceiving a diploma, shall have been present 
at not less than two entire encampments. 

On the 25th of February, 1820, a commu- 
nication was made to the House of Repre- 
sentatives by Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of 



88 



War, accompanied by a report from Major 
Thayer, containing a series of propositions 
for the improvement of the Academy, with 
remarks thereon by General Bernard and 
Colonel McRee, of the corps of engineers. 
This Report was written and submitted by 
Major Thayer, in November, 1817 ; and the 
remarks, which are without date, appear to 
have been written early in 1819; as Mr. 
Calhoun's communication was in reply to a 
resolution dated the 26th of February, 1819, 
calling for information concerning the Aca- 
demy. The Report urged the appointment 
of one additional assistant professor of natu- 
ral and experimental philosophy, and four 
of mathematics ; two additional teachers of 
French ; a professor of chemistry and mine- 
ralogy; and recommended also a professor 
of languages and oratory, as distinct from 
the duties of the chaplain ; and a teacher of 
military drawing ; all of them to be included 
in the Academic Staff. It recommended that 
the principal professors and teachers should 
" constitute an Academic Board or Council, of 
which the Superintendent should always be 
president, and whose duty it should be to 



89 



fix and improve the system of studies and 
instruction ; to conduct and decide upon all 
examinations ; and to specify in detail the 
duties of the several instructors." It also 
recommended that the age of admission 
should be from sixteen to twenty years in- 
clusive ; and that the most distinguished 
graduates, not exceeding two in each class, 
should be promoted to the corps of en- 
gineers. General Bernard and Colonel 
McRee, in their remarks thereon, recom- 
mended a professorship of artillery, but not 
of languages ; and that the professorship of 
fortification should also include descriptive 
geometry. They recommended that the Aca- 
demic Board should have power to alter the 
regulations or studies only with the approba- 
tion of the Secretary of War ; and also that 
the Academy should be rendered entirely dis- 
tinct from the corps of engineers, as having 
an equal relation to all the corps of the 
army; in which view Mr. Calhoun con- 
curred.* 

On the revision of the Army Regulations, 

» Military Affairs, ii. 75, 86. 
8* 



90 



by General Scott, as published in 1821, the 
system of Regulations for the Military Aca- 
demy, previously matured, was introduced 
therein without change. These Regulations, 
being readily accessible, we may be excused 
from repeating here, on account of their 
length and minuteness.* They embodied tke 
different regulations of which we have already 
spoken, in a more systematic form ; and sup- 
plied those farther details which experience 
had shown to be desirable, for the benefit of 
the institution. The principal changes in the 
studies proposed therein, compared with the 
programme of 1816, were the omission of 
English grammar in the first year ; the intro- 
duction of descriptive geometry and fluxions 
or the calculus as an indispensable study of 
the second year ; the introduction of che- 
mistry in the third year ; the postponement 
of engineering to the fourth year, and the 
entire omission of the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages, with the introduction of the science 
of war, including artillery and infantry tac- 
tics, as a regular course of study. In these 

a See Army Regulations of 1821, Article 78. 



91 



Regulations, the relative importance of the 
different studies in forming the merit-roll 
of the cadets, was first definitively settled, 
by a scale of numbers, nearly the same as 
at the present time. The text-books used 
at the Academy in 1824 were. Gay de 
Vernon's Science of War and Fortification, 
as translated fur the Military Academy by 
Major O'Connor, of the United States Army ; 
Lallemand's Artillery, translated by James 
Renwick, also for the United States ser- 
vice; Rules and Regulations for the Infan- 
try, as prescribed for the service ; Sganzin's 
Cours de Construction; Gregory's Mechanics; 
Enfield's Natural Philosophy; Newton's Prin- 
cipia; Henry's Chemistry; Cleaveland's Mine- 
ralogy; Lacroix's Traite du Calcul; Biot's 
Essai de Geometric Analytique; Crozet's 
Perspective, and his Descriptive Geometry; 
Farrar's Trigonometry; Legendre's Geo- 
metry ; Lacroix's Algebra ; Berard's French 
Grammar, and his Lecteur Francois ; His- 
toire de Gil Bias ; Histoire de Charles XII., 
par Voltaire ; Morse's Geography ; Tytler's 
Plistory; Paley's Moral Philosophy; and 
Vattel's Law of Nations.^ 

» Military Affairs, ii. 661. 



92 



The trial of cadets Ragland, Loring, 
Fairfax, Vining, and Holmes, for insubordi- 
nation in acting as a committee of the 
cadets, to prefer charges against Captain 
Bliss, we can allude to only as eliciting, from 
high authorities, the decision that the cadets 
are amenable to martial law. These young 
gentlemen were arrested, November 27th, 
1818; and after a court of inquiry had exa- 
mined their case, they were brought, in May, 
1819, before a general court-martial, of which 
Colonel Hindman was president, and which 
decided that it had no jurisdiction in the case, 
as they were not subject to military law. On- 
this occasion, the Secretary of War consulted 
Mr. Wirt, then Attorney General of the United 
States ; from whose official report on the 
subject, dated August 21st, 1819, the follow- 
ing extract is made ; " It is suggested by 
Colonel Hindman, on behalf of the court- 
martial, that these cadets are merely students. 
.... But if the suggestion is intended to place 
cadets on the footing of civil students, clothed 
with all their civil privileges and immunities, 
it is proper to remark, that those cadets oc- 
cupy a very different ground ; they are en- 



93 



listed soldiers ; they engage like soldiers, to 
serve five years, unless sooner discharged ; 
they receive the pay, rations, and emoluments 
of sergeants; they are bound to perform 
military duty, in such places, and on such 
service, as the commander-in-chief of the 
army of the United States shall order ; and 
finally, by the act of the 3d of March, 1815, 
fixing the miUtary peace establishment of the 
United States, the corps to which they are 
attached, and of which they form a part, is 
expressly recognised as a part of that military 
establishment."* This opinion w^as corrobo- 
rated by that of the President, and of the 
Secretary of War. We may here add, that the 
cadets above mentioned resigned their com- 
missions soon after; and appear to have 
acted from erroneous views. 

The act of 1821, which reduced the army 
to six thousand men, made no change in the 
corps of engineers, or in the Military Academy. 
On the 16th of February, 1821, a motion was 
made in the House of Representatives "to dis- 
continue the pay and rations of the cadets, 

a Mil. Aff. ii. 30. 



94 



and discharge them from the Academy ;" in 
other words to abohsh the institution ; but it 
was negatived by a majority of eighty-nine. 
It was subsequent to these proceedings that 
Mr. Monroe, in his annual message, in 1822, 
thus expressed his opinion of the Military 
Academy. " Good order is preserved in it, 
and the youth are well instructed in every 
science connected with the great object of 
the institution. They are also well trained 
and disciplined in the practical parts of the 

profession The Military Academy 

forms the basis, in regard to science, on 
which the military establishment rests. It 
furnishes annually, after due examination, 
and on the report of the Academic Staff, 
many well informed youths, to fill the va- 
cancies which occur in the several corps of 
the army; while others, who retire to private 
life, carry with them such attainments as, 
under the right reserved to the several states 
to appoint the officers and to train the militia, 
will enable them, by affording a wider field 
for selection, to promote the great object of 
the power vested in Congress, of providing 
for the organizing, arming, and disciplining 



95 



the militia."* We may here add, that simi- 
lar encomiums have been pronounced on the 
Academy, by every succeeding President of 
the United States, down to the present time. 
The more recent efforts which have been 
made to abolish the institution, we shall notice 
in a subsequent place. 

On the resignation of Colonel Thayer as 
Superintendent of the Military Academy, he 
was succeeded by Major (now Lieutenant- 
Colonel) R. E. De Russy, of the corps of en- 
gineers ; who continued in this office from 
July 1st, 1833, to September 1st, 1838; when 
he was relieved from this station, and as- 
signed to the charge of the works for the 
defence of the Delaware and Chesapeake 
Bays. He was succeeded by Major Richard 
Delafield, of the engineers ; the present able 
Superintendent. Rev. Mr. Warner having 
resigned the station of chaplain and profes- 
sor of ethics, &c., was succeeded, September 
1st, 1838, by Rev. Jasper Adams, formerly 
President of Charleston College, South Caro- 
lina, and author of a treatise on Moral Philo- 

» Johnson's Report, 7, 8. 



96 



sophy. In the department of engineering, 
Professor Mahan was assisted by Lieutenant 
Frederic A. Smith, from 1833 to 1834; by 
Lieutenant Samuel C. Ridgely, from 1834 to 
1839; and by Lieutenant J. M. Scarritt, from 
1839 to the present date. 

The successor to Captain Hitchcock, as 
instructor of tactics and commandant of ca- 
dets, was Major John Fowle, of the infantry ; 
who held this station from July 6th, 1833, to 
March 31st, 1838, when he was succeeded 
by Captain Charles F. Smith, of the artillery, 
who still holds this station. In the depart- 
ment of natural and experimental philosophy, 
Professor Courtenay was succeeded, January 
1st, 1835, by Lieutenant William H. C. Bart- 
lett, of the corps of engineers ; author of a 
valuable treatise on the science of Optics. 
His assistants, successors to Lieutenant Cram, 
have been Lieutenant Jacob Ammen, from 

1836 to 1837; Lieutenant Benjamin Alvord, 

1837 to 1839; and Lieutenant Joseph Roberts, 
from 1839 to the present date. In the de- 
partment of mathematics, Professor Davies 
was succeeded, June 1st, 1837, by Lieutenant 
Albert E. Church, of the artillery, who had 



97 



previously been chief assistant in this depart- 
ment, from 1838 to 1837, as successor to 
Lieutenant Ross. The subsequent assistants 
have been, Lieutenant William W. S. Bliss, 
from 1837 to January, 1840 ; and Lieutenant 
A. E. Shiras, from January, 1840, to the pre- 
sent date. 

Lieutenant Jacob W. Bailey was appointed 
Professor of Chemistry July 5th, 1838; and 
Lieutenant H. L. Kendrick has been his as- 
sistant from 1838 to the present time. Lieu- 
tenant Bradford R. Alden succeeded Mr. 
Molinard, as second teacher of French, as- 
sistant to Mr. Berard, from September 12th, 
1839, to February 4th, 1840 ; since which 
time this station has been filled by Mr. H. R. 
Agnel. After the death of Mr. Gimbrede, 
Charles R. Leslie, R. A., was appointed 
teacher of drawing, March, 2d, 1833; but he 
resigned the station April 15th, 1834, and was 
succeeded. May 8th, 1834, by Robert W. 
Weir, the present accomplished teacher. Mr. 
Leslie and Mr. Weir are both recognised 
among the most distinguished American 
painters; and the latter has been employed, 
by order of Congress, to execute one of the 

9 



98 



paintings for the rotunda of the Capitol. 
The successors to Lieutenant Kinsley, as 
instructors of artillery, have been. Lieutenant 
Robert Anderson, from December 1st, 1835, to 
November 17th, 1837; and Lieutenant Minor 
Knowlton, from that date to the present time. 
Mr. Jumel was succeeded as sw^ord-master, or 
instructor of fencing, by Ferdinand Dupare, 
February 16th, 1837; and James McAuley 
became the first instructor of riding, June 
12th, 1839. Joseph Lucchesi succeeded Mr. 
Kyle as leader of the band ; having been ap- 
pointed April 1st, 1836, and this station he 
still continues to hold. 

By an act of Congress for increasing the 
army, approved July 5th, 1838, it was pro- 
vided, (§ 19,) " That an additional professor 
be appointed, to instruct in the studies of 
chemistry, mineralogy, and geology," and 
that the Secretary of War may assign to the 
said professor an assistant, to be taken from 
the officers of the line, or cadets, and to re- 
ceive the same pay as the other assistant pro- 
fessors. By the 28th section of the same 
law, it was enacted, " That the term for 
which cadets hereafter admitted into the 



99 



Military Academy at West Point, shall en- 
gage to serve, be, and the same is hereby 
increased to eight years, unless [they be] 
sooner discharged." The acts of Congress 
making annual appropriations for the support 
of the Academy, and occasional appropria- 
tions for buildings and other purposes, we 
have not thought it necessary here to notice. 
A detachment of dragoons has recently been 
stationed at West Point, having arrived there 
June J 2th, 1839. An opportunity is thus 
afforded for the cadets to exercise in horse- 
manship and cavalry tactics. For this great 
improvement in the course of military instruc- 
tion, the Academy is, we believe, indebted to 
Mr. Poinsett, the Secretary of War. 

The present regulations of the Military 
Academy, being voluminous, we shall not 
attempt here to transcribe. They are, for the 
most part, a digest and expansion of the dif- 
ferent regulations already referred to ; and 
which it has been our object to present re- 
spectively in their original form. It remains, 
however, to offer a brief view of the me- 
chanism of the institution and its mode of ac- 
tion, as a summary of the preceding notices. 



100 



Besides the superintendent, professors, and 
teachers already named, there are attached 
to the Academy fourteen heutenants of the 
army, as assistant professors or teachers, but 
receiving no other compensation than their 
regular army pay. The adjutant, quarter- 
master, paymaster, surgeon, and assistant 
surgeon of the Academy are also officers of 
the army detailed for these respective sta- 
tions ; and together constitute the Military 
Staff of the Academy. There are also at- 
tached to the Academy, a storekeeper, tailor, 
and shoemaker, who are required to supply 
the cadets with necessary articles, at the 
regulated prices. The principal professors 
and teachers of the Academy constitute an 
Academic Board, of which the superintendent 
is president, and which has the supervision 
of the studies, the selection of class books, 
library books, maps, models, and apparatus; 
and which decides on the merits of the ca- 
dets at the examinations. For this last pur- 
pose the first assistants in the principal de- 
partments, and the immediate teacher of the 
section under examination, constitute tran- 
siently a part of the Academic Board. The 



101 



Academic S^*?^ comprehends all those officers 
who are engaged in giving instruction ; in 
contradistinction from the MiHtary Staff, al- 
ready mentioned. 

The number of candidates for admission is 
so great that early apphcations are made to 
the Secretary of War, by those desirous of 
obtaining an appointment as cadets. The 
number of cadets being nearly equal to that 
of the members of (Congress, it is understood 
that there is generally one cadet from each 
congressional district, and that their nomina- 
tion is in some degree confided to the respec- 
tive members. The age of admission was 
restricted by a regulation, we believe in 1833, 
and is now from sixteen to twenty-one years 
inclusive ; regard being also had to health, 
stature, and character. The acquirements 
necessary for admission, as established by 
law, are reading, writing, and practical 
arithmetic ; though a knowledge of English 
grammar, geography, and even of the Latin 
language, is highly desirable and advanta- 
geous. To raise the standard of admission 
would be to exclude many young men of 
worth, whose early education has been ne- 

9* 



102 



glected, and to depress it would deprive the 
nation of such moderate quaUfications as it 
has a right to expect, for the prosecution of 
important higher studies. The newly ap- 
pointed cadets are required to join the Acade- 
my between the 1st and 20th of June ; and 
they engage to serve eight years, or four 
years after graduating at the Academy. As 
opportunity is afforded for gratuitous instruc- 
tion at the Academy from the 1st of June 
until the examination of the candidates near 
the close of the month, tho<e who are imper- 
fectly prepared would do well to be present 
during this period. 

The months of June, July, and August, 
in each vear, after the close of the exami- 
nation, are devoted solely to military ex- 
ercises ; for which purpose the cadets leave 
the barracks, and encamp in tents on the 
plain, under the regular police and discipline 
of an army in time of war. Their organiza- 
tion varies occasionally, while drilling in par- 
ticular arms ; but for purposes of disciphne, 
police, and the ordinary drills in infantry 
tactics, they are arranged as a battalion of 
four companies, under the commandant of 
the corps and his assistants ; the corporals 



103 



being appointed from the cadets of the third 
class ; the sergeants from those of the second ; 
and the captains and Keutenants from those 
of the first or senior class. The other cadets 
fill the ranks as soldiers, though required to 
act as officers at stated times. They perform 
in rotation the duties of sentinels, or guard 
duty, night and day, during the encampment ; 
but only in the evening and at meal-times 
when in barracks. They are drilled daily, 
during the greater portion of the year, ex- 
cept on Saturdays and Sundays, and seve- 
ral times a day, during the encampment 
either as artillery, infantry, riflemen, or 
cavalry troops, the riding exercises being 
continued through the whole year. They are 
thus practically taught the use of the musket 
or rifle, the cannon, mortar, and how^itzer, 
the sabre and rapier, or broad and small 
sword ; as also the construction of field works 
and the preparation of all kinds of munitions 
and materials for war. The morning parade 
during the encampment, and guard mount- 
ins; throughout the remainder of the year, 
and the evening parade at retreat (or sunset), 
are highly imposing, especially as enlivened 



104 



by the excellent band of music. The cadets' 
uniform is a gray coatee wiih standaig col- 
lar, bullet buttons gilt, and black silk cord; 
gray vest and pantaloons in winter, and 
white in summer, with white belts for the 
bayonet and cartridge box. The dress cap 
is of black felt, round crown, with black 
pompon, brass front plate, and eagle on the 
front of the cap. A forage cap is worn when 
off duty, and a guard cloak is provided for 
wet or cold weather. Cadets who have been 
present two encampments, are allowed, if 
their conduct be correct and their parents or 
fifuardians consent thereto, to be absent the 
third on furlough. 

The cadets return from camp to barracks 
on the last of August; and the ceremony of 
striking the tents on this occasion is well 
worth an effort of the visiter to witness it. 
The remaining nine months of the academic 
year are devoted to study. The studies of 
the first year, or fourth class, are algebra, 
geometry, trigonometry, descriptive geome- 
try, mensuration, and the French language. 
All the mathematical studies are practically 
taught, and applied to numerous problems not 



105 



found in the books; on the solution of which, 
greatly depends the reputation and standing 
of the rival candidates for pre-eminence. The 
studies of the second year are the theory of 
perspective and shades and shadows, practi- 
cally illustrated ; analytic geometry, with its 
application to conic sections ; the integral and 
differential calculus, or science of fluxions; 
practical surveying; with the French lan- 
guage, geography, English grammar and 
rhetoric, and the elements of drawing, or the 
human figure in pen and pencil, and topogra- 
phy in plain tints, colours, and with the pen. 
This completes the course of mathematics, 
and also of French, which the cadets learn to 
translate freely, but which few of them can 
be expected to speak fluently. The thir^d year 
is devoted to the course of natural and expe- 
rimental philosophy, comprising mechanics in 
all its divisions ; optics, magnetism, and elec- 
tricity ; and astromomy ; together with che- 
mistry, including the laws of heat, and prac- 
tical applications ; and the completion of the 
course of drawing, including landscapes in 
pencil and colours. The fourth and last year 
is appropriated to the review of artillery and 



106 



infantry tactics, the former including military 
pyrotechny; the science of war and fortifica- 
tion, or military engineering ; a course of civil 
engineering, embracing architecture, the con- 
struction of roads and bridges, railroads and 
canals, with the improvement of rivers and 
harbours ; a course of mineralogy and geo- 
logy ; a course of rhetoric, moral philosophy, 
and political science, including constitutional 
and international law. In most of these 
studies the classes are divided into sections, 
usually of about fifteen cadets in each ; and 
each section has its own instructor. Thus 
each cadet is called upon at almost every re- 
citation, to explain a considerable portion of 
the lesson. The written or delineated demon- 
strations, chiefly algebraic or geometrical, 
are explained at the black board in the pre- 
sence of the whole section. The hours of 
study are from reveille until breakfast time, at 
7 o'clock, A.M.; from 8 o'clock, A.M., to 
dinner time, at 1 o'clock, P. M. ; from 2 to 4 
o'clock, P. M. ; and from the call " To quar- 
ters" about one hour after sundown, until 
taps, at 10 o'clock, P. M., for which tattoo, at 
9 o'clock, is the preparatory signal. The re- 



107 



citations vary from one hour and a half to 
one hour in length, and occur twice or thrice 
daily. When the interval from 4 o'clock, 
P. M., to sunset exceeds one hour and a half, 
it is devoted to military exercises, but the rest 
of the year to recreation. 

The present^ text-books in use at the 
Academy are Mahan's Treatise on Field 
Fortification, w^ith Lithographic Notes on 
Permanent Fortification, Attack and De- 
fence, Mines and other accessories, the Com- 
position of Armies, Strategy, 6z:c. ; Mahan's 
Course of Civil Engineering, with Notes on 
Architecture, Stone (Cutting, and Machines; 
Rules and Regulations for the Exercise and 
Manoeuvres of the United States Infantry; 
United States Artillery Tactics, Kinsley's 
Pyrotechny, Thiroux's Instruction Theorique 
et Pratique d'Artillerie, and Knowlton's Notes 
on Powder, Cannon, and Projectiles; Blair's 
Rhetoric, Paley's Moral Philosophy, Kent's 
Lectures, and Bayard's Exposition of the Con- 
stitution; Dana's Mineralogy, Bakewell's Geo- 
logy, and Turner's Chemistry; Boucharlat's 
Mechanics, translated byCourtenay; Roget's 
Electricity and Magnetism; Bartlett's Optics; 



108 



Gummere's Astronomy ; Davies' Descriptive 
Geometry, Surveying, Analytical Geometry, 
Calculus, Bourdon's Algebra, and Legendre's 
Geometry ; Berard's French Grammar, Le- 
mons Fran^aises, and Gil Bias; and Murray's 
Grammar and English Reader. 

To test the progress of the cadets in their 
studies, there are held semi-annual examina- 
tions, commencing on the second day of Janu- 
ary, unless it be Sunday, and on the second 
Monday of June; at the latter of which a 
Board of Visiters, invited by the Secretary of 
War, is present, to make a critical inspection 
and official report of the state of the Academy. 
Each of these examinations occupies about a 
fortnight, and is very strict, but still it is not 
considered as the sole test of merit. Each 
instructor makes a weekly class report, in 
which is recorded the daily performance of 
each cadet under his charge; those who do 
perfectly well being marked 3, or the maxi- 
mum, and those who fail entirely in their 
recitation being marked 0; between which 
extremes there are nine intermediate grades 
of merit, having reference only to the mem- 
bers of that section ; but transfers are freely 



109 



made between the higher and lower sections, 
according to individual merit. These marks 
are accessible to the cadets from week to 
week, and doubtless stimulate their exertions. 
They are summed up at the end of the term, 
and laid before the Academic Board and 
Board of Visiters ; so that the standing of 
each cadet, depends not only on his personal 
examination but on all his previous recitations. 
A certain proficiency being required of the 
cadets, those who fall below this Hmit are 
either discharged from the service, or turned 
back to repeat the course of studies of that 
year with the succeeding class. Averaging 
the last ten years, we think, a class of about 
one hundred entering the academy, is reduced 
from want of inclination for the service and 
other causes, to about eighty at the end of 
six months ; seventy at the end of one year, 
and sixty at the end of two j'-ears ; about fifty, 
or one half of the whole number remaining to 
complete the course. 

There is a general merit-roll of every class, 
made out at the end of each academic year ; 
the merit of each cadet being expressed by a 
number denoting his relative proficiency or 

10 



110 



acquirements. The final standing of each 
cadet, on which depends his relative rank for 
army promotion, is determined by the sum 
of his merit in all the different branches ; re- 
gard being had to their relative importance. 
This latter is at present estimated as follows 
Engineering and the Science of War, 300 
Natural Philosophy, 300 ; Mathematics, 300 
and Conduct, 300 ; Rhetoric and Moral and 
Political Science, 200 ; Chemistry and Mine- 
ralogy, 200; Infantry Tactics, 150; Artil- 
lery, 150; French, 100; and Drawing, 100. 
Hence the individual who should reach the 
maximum in all the branches would be cre- 
dited with 2100 on the final merit-roll; but 
such cases are of course extremely rare. The 
cadet in each class having the highest sum of 
merit is placed first on the roll, and so on- 
w^ard ; and he who is deficient to a certain 
extent even in the last year, is not permitted 
to graduate. In estimating the merit in con- 
duct, every neglect of dut}', or case of tar- 
diness, being reported against a cadet, and 
not satisfactorily excused, is charged against 
him in the roll of demerit, with a number 
proportioned to its degree of criminality, as 



Ill 



fixed by the regulations. Hence the amount 
of demerit, on the academic records is not 
to be considered so much a test of moral as 
of military character. Each cadet, on gra- 
duating, receives a diploma signed by the 
Superintendent and members of the Academic 
Board ; and his name is presented by the 
Inspector to the Secretary of War, with a 
recommendation for a commission in the 
army, which has in no case hitherto been 
refused. 

The allowance to cadets for pay and rations, 
is $28 per month ; amply sufficient for their 
comfortable maintenance ; including board 
and clothing, and the purchase of all the 
books, stationary, and other articles required 
for their academic course. They are liable 
to trial by either a garrison or general 
court-martial, and to any degree of punish- 
ment which martial law may prescribe. 
The use of ardent spirits or tobacco, and all 
games of chance are strictly forbidden; as 
also going beyond the limits of the post with- 
out permission, or being absent from quarters 
during the hours of study. Insubordination, 
and neglect of military duties, or disrespect 



112 



towards a superior officer, are among the 
more serious offences. The cadets are not 
only required to abstain from all vicious, im- 
moral, or irregular conduct, but they are 
enjoined on every occasion to conduct them- 
selves as becomes officers and gentlemen, on 
penalty of dismission from the service. The 
inmates of each room or tent act in turn as 
orderlies ; and the orderly for the time being 
is responsible for the police and good order 
of the room or tent, and for any violation of 
the regulations which may take place therein. 
Each room is also visited at least three times 
every day by the officer in charge, who is 
one of the assistant instructors of tactics; 
each performing this duty in his turn. Every 
cadet is required to attend divine service on 
the Sabbath, unless excused from duty by the 
surgeon ; and if sick, he is comfortably pro- 
vided for and attended. Under these and 
other subordinate regulations, we presume to 
say, that there is better order and less im- 
moral conduct at West Point, than in almost 
any college in the United States. 

The first buildings occupied by the cadets 
were of wood, erected we believe during the 



113 



Revolution, or at least as early as 1794, and 
demolished about the year 1817. They stood 
on the north side of the plain, at a short dis- 
tance west of the new hotel. They were oc- 
cupied originally by soldiers ; afterwards by 
soldiers and cadets together ; and finally by 
the cadets alone, until their removal to the 
new barracks, we believe in 1815. In 1812, 
as we should have before mentioned, the juris- 
diction of 250 acres of land was ceded by 
New York to the United States, and in that 
year or the following, the building called the 
Academy, (recently burnt,) the mess-hall west 
of it, and the south barrack east of it, were 
commenced, but not finished until 1815. 
These three buildings formed a line crossing 
the southern part of the plain. The north 
barrack, a large building projecting into the 
plain, near the south barrack, and forming 
an L with the latter, was completed in 1817. 
Of the brick edifices on the west side of the 
plain, the one directly south, and the two 
next north of the mess-hall, were built in 
1815-16; and the three most northern were 
constructed in 1820-21 ; in front of which 
are the flag-staft' and parade ground. The 

10* 



114 



remaining brick building, next to the southern- 
naost, and situated back from the street, was 
built we think in 1829. Of the three blocks 
of stone dwellings, at the northwest angle of 
the plain, on the road to the German Flats, 
the one farthest west was erected in 1821; 
the two others in 1825-6. These buildings 
front the north, and overlook Camptown, with 
its old magazine and arsenal, and the barrack 
erected for the musicians about 1828. 

The hospital, at the extreme south end of 
the plain, and the hotel, at the opposite ex- 
tremity on the north, fronting up the river, 
were built in 1828-9. The water-works, for 
supplying part of the buildings with water, 
and for extinguishing fires, were completed 
in 1830, at an expense of about $4,500. The 
new chapel, southeast of the south barrack, 
was completed, we believe, in 1836; and the 
new Academy, south of the barracks, the 
basement story of which is used as an exer- 
cise hall for riding, &c., was finished, or 
nearly so, in 1838. The old academy, used 
formerly as a chapel, and which contained 
the library and apparatus, was destroyed by 
fire in February, 1838 ; but most of the books 



115 



and instruments were saved. A new stone 
building, of superior construction, is now in 
progress, situated east of the new acadenny, 
for containing the library and for astrono- 
niical and other purposes. The library is 
well selected, chiefly of military, scientific, 
and historical works, comprising nearly ten 
thousand volumes. The apparatus, both phi- 
losophical and chemical, is quite extensive, 
and embraces the latest improvements. 

The monument on a small hillock near the 
flag-staflf', is a cenotaph erected by the late 
General Brown to the memory of Colonel 
Eleazar D. Wood. The beautiful monument 
in the West Point Cemetery, on a romantic 
point about a mile north of the Academy, at 
the eastern angle of the German Flats, was 
erected by the corps of cadets, in 1817, to 
the memory of Vincent M. Lowe, of New 
York, who was killed by the accidental dis- 
charge of a cannon in that year. It was done 
at the suggestion of his friends of the Amo- 
sophic Society, and at an expense of about 
twelve hundred dollars. His funeral oration 
was delivered by Robert Emmet, son of 
Thomas Addis Emmet, who was then at the 



116 



Academy, and is now a professor in the Uni- 
versity of Virginia. The nnonument is a 
conic frustum, surmounted by military em- 
blems; and, from being inscribed with the 
names of other cadets who have died at the 
Academy, it is known as the Cadets' Monu- 
ment. The Cemetery, which commenced 
with this monument, is beautifully situated, 
half surrounded with groves, yet overlooking 
the river ; and in its calm seclusion, can 
hardly be visited without exciting the most 
solemn emotions. 

The other monument, over the levelled re- 
doubt or citadel of Fort CUnton, at the north- 
east angle of the plain, is sacred to Kosciuszko. 
It was first suggested and advocated by 
Cadet Henry St. James Linden, we believe in 
1825, and completed in 1829, at the expense 
of the Corps of Cadets, its cost being about 
five thousand dollars. An oration was written 
for the occasion by Cadet Charles Petigru, of 
South Carolina. The monument is a Doric 
column, resting on a lofty pedestal, with ap- 
propriate Grecian ornaments. It bears no 
other inscription than the name of Poland's 
hero, whose memory is so dear to Americans, 



117 



and so closely interwoven with the early re- 
miniscences of West Point. The monument 
was designed by John H. Latrobe, Esq., of 
Baltimore, a pupil, but not a graduate of the 
Academy. The surplus of the fund raised for 
this purpose was expended in improving the 
access to a romantic spot on the east side of 
the plain, a shelf of the rocky precipice, 
known as Kosciuszko's Garden, from its 
having been his favourite resort while en- 
gaged on the fortifications at this place. 

The Academy has been for many years 
provided with a Literary Society, similar to 
those in our colleges, for the improvement of 
the cadets in literary and classical acquire- 
ments. The Amosophic Society was organized 
in May, 1816, for " improvement in debate, 
composition, and recitation," or declamation. 
It embraced at first about t wenty-fi ve members, 
and subsequently, in its best days, about fifty. 
Among its early members were the lamented 
Vincent M. Lowe and Professor Emmet, 
already mentioned. Benjamin Vining was 
its first president, and as such, delivered the 
first address before it. This society existed 
till about 1823, and had collected a library 



118 



of nearly 500 volumes. Meanwhile, about 
1822, a new society was formed called the 
Philomathean, in which the Amosophic So- 
ciety appears to have been merged in the 
following year. 

From the union of the Philomathean Society 
with another of short duration, called the Cice- 
ronian, as we are informed, sprang the Dia- 
lectic Society, which was founded, we believe, 
in the winter of 1824-5, and has continued 
to flourish to the present time. Among its 
early and active members were Leonidas 
Polk, now Bishop of the Episcopal Church 
in Arkansas, and Charles Mason, now Chief 
Justice of Iowa Territory. The office of 
Reader of anonymous compositions was es- 
tablished in 1828, and first filled by Joseph 
Ritner, Junior, an excellent and distinguished 
member, since deceased. An able address 
was delivered before this society, December 
29th, 1838, by Lieutenant Alvord, in com- 
memoration of the officers who fell in battle 
in Florida. The Dialectic Society has col- 
lected a library of several hundred volumes, 
chiefly of historical and classical works; and 
we think has a very favourable influence on 



119 



the character and acquirements of those 
cadets whom it receives as members. A 
Lyceum of Natural History existed for seve- 
ral years at the Academy ; but was dissolved 
by a vote of its members in 1831 ; its mine- 
rals being presented to the Academic Cabinet, 
and its books to the Dialectic Society. 

We proceed finally to state the recent 
objections which have been made to the 
Military Academy, and to offer a brief 
reply. On the 26th of November, 1833, 
the Legislature of Tennessee passed Resolu- 
tions in favour of abolishing the Academy; 
saying, " a few young men, sons of distin- 
guished and wealthy families, through the 
intervention of members of Congi'ess, are 
educated at this institution at the expense 
of the great body of the American people, 
which entitle them to privileges, and ele- 
vate them above their fellow-citizens, who 
have not been so fortunate as to be edu- 
cated under the patronage of this aristocra- 
tical institution." On the 3d of March, 
1834, similar Resolutions were passed by 
the Legislature of Ohio, saying that the 
Academy '' is partial in its operations, and 



120 



wholly inconsistent with the spirit and genius 
of our hberal institutions." It was in reply 
to these Resolutions, that an able Report was 
made to the House of Representatives, May 
17th, 1834, by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, 
as Chairman of the Committee on Military 
Aftairs ; vindicating the institution against 
these charges, showing how fully it has been 
approved by all our leading statesmen, from 
Washington downwards, and how substan- 
tially it has repaid the country for her mater- 
nal care and support. But this institution 
was destined to pass another ordeal, when, 
on the 1st of March, 1837, a virulent Report 
against it was presented to the House of Re- 
presentatives, by the Honourable F. O. J. 
Smith, of Maine, Chairman of the Select 
Committee of Nine, appointed to investigate 
the condition of the United States Military 
Academy. This Report concluded by re- 
commending the abolition of the Academy, 
and the establishment of a School of Practice 
in its stead ; for reasons which it is our pre- 
sent purpose to examine. 

It is objected that the cadets at the Aca- 
demy are not a part of the efficient force of 



121 



the army. In denial of this assertion, we 
may quote the very language of the law of 
1812, as quoted by Mr. Wirt, in proving that 
the cadets are subject to courts-martial. 
They are subject to do duty, whenever, and 
wherever, and whatever the President shall 
direct ; and they would at any time be fit 
and ready for duty, even on the battle-field, 
like the youthful Polytechnists of Paris, did 
occasion require it. If they are not an effi- 
cient part of the army, it is in the same sense 
that soldiers newly recruited, or citizen offi- 
cers newly appointed, are not efficient, until 
they have acquired the requisite knowledge 
and experience. If the number of cadets 
were more than the public service requires, 
as has been objected, the remedy would be 
to reduce the academy, not to destroy it ; 
but this objection does not at present hold 
good, in point of fact. The objection that 
the graduates are not under obligation to 
continue in the service, was obviated in a 
reasonable degree by the law of July 5th, 
1838, requiring them to serve four years 
after graduating ; and if this be not suffi- 
cient, it rests with Congress to extend the 

11 



122 



period of service, as far as the nation may 
see fit to require. 

The objection most relied on, against edu- 
cating the cadets at the public expense, would 
apply equally against instructing recruits of 
any grade, or paying them any thing until 
they should be thoroughly drilled and com- 
pletely efficient. This answers also the con- 
stitutional objection against the right of 
Congress to estabhsh a seminary of educa- 
tion. The cadets are not merely students, 
but a grade of officers on duty, as much so 
as if they were dispersed through all the 
posts and garrisons; but learning that duty 
ten times as well as they could thus learn it, 
and at much less expense than if instructed 
after being commissioned as lieutenants; 
when their pay would be more than twice as 
great. They learn it too far more thoroughly 
and uniformly than if taught at private 
schools, military or civil, as the result of 
more than one rival institution abundantly 
testifies. No fewer than thirty-one gentle- 
men, all but six of whom are graduates of the 
Academy, are employed in instructing two 
hundred and sixty cadets. What other in- 



123 



stitution in our country could present any 
thing like the same amount of suitable in- 
struction to candidates for army promotion ? 
This introduces another objection, that the 
expense of educating the cadets is exorbitant, 
especially as compared with the expenses at 
our best colleges. In answer to this, we have 
only to state, that the current expenses of the 
institution, including the pay and rations 
of the cadets, amount to about $100,000 ; 
and dividing this sum by 250, the average 
number of cadets, we have the annual ex- 
pense of each cadet, equal to $400 per annum ; 
which, contrasted with college expenses for 
travelling, boarding, tuition, fuel, books, and 
clothing, is we think by no means unfavour- 
able to the Military Academy, considering 
the number and qualifications of its instruc- 
tors. We may add, that this expense is far 
less than would be that of the scheme recom- 
mended by the Hon. Mr. Smith, of ordering 
nearly one third of the company officers of 
the army to West Point, when converted into 
a School of Practice ; especially as those 
officers would not then be a part of the effi- 
cient force of the army, as the phrase is un- 



124 



derstood by Mr. Smith. But what are a few 
dollars, more or less, compared with the im- 
portance of having a body of select and 
thoroughly educated officers, to take the 
command of our armies, and direct our forti- 
fications and national improvements ? 

The objection that only the sons of influ- 
ential and wealthy men are admitted to the 
Academy, is far from being true ; but even 
w^ere it the case, the fault would be not in the 
Academy, but in those who are vested with 
the power of making the appointments thereto. 
Hence it would not be remedied by abolishing 
the Academy ; since the Executive would then 
appoint as lieutenants those who are now ap- 
pointed as cadets ; or rather, it would appoint 
a more favoured class of young men, already 
tolerably educated. As regards the Academy 
itself, even its most violent opponents, on the 
successive Boards of Visiters, have admitted 
that nothing could be more just and impartial 
than its awards of academic honours and 
censures. It is not strange that many of 
those who are discharged should find fault 
with its strictness ; but it is surely just that 



125 



the country should select those who are 
deemed best qualified, and not be required to 
educate and commission all who may be ad- 
mitted on the recommendation of partial 
friends. Though they may possess latent 
talents, and may afterwards distinguish them- 
selves, still the Academic Staff must judge 
them by their present industry and acquire- 
ments, without waiting for the future. 

Much has been said against the moral 
tendency of the education acquired at West 
Point, but we think with great injustice. The 
argument drawn from the conduct-rolls is 
perfectly futile ; where to appear on parade 
with a rusty gun lock, is charged, and properly 
so, as a military crime. We appeal with con- 
fidence to the subsequent career of a great 
majority of the graduates, as disproving this 
charge ; and we assert that since the Academy 
became settled under the present regime, there 
have been fewer disturbances there than at 
our colleges, generally speaking. But in 
strictness, the comparison should be made 
not with the character of our colleges, but 
with the character which young oflicers 

w^ould be likely to acquire without an educa- 

11* 



126 



tion at the Academy ; and in this point of 
view, the result need not be stated. 

Another of the objections is, that the 
graduates of the Mihtary Academy, being 
entitled to precedence in filling vacancies 
in the army, all citizens above the age of 
twenty-one are virtually almost excluded 
from entering the service, and that no in- 
ducement is left for the general acquisition 
of military knowledge, " nor for the institu- 
tion of military schools," elsewhere.* But 
allowing that fifty appointments are to be 
made annually in the army ; we ask how 
many private military schools this induce- 
ment would foster and support ? or if only 
one or two, we ask in what respect these 
would be preferable to the National Academy ; 
and whether the appointment of graduates 
from such institutions, wlio would neces- 
sarily be sons only of the wealthy, would not 
be an act of greater favouritism than that 
which has been unjustly urged against West 
Point? 

It is said that the commanders of our army 
in cases of emergency, will be men inspired 

» Mr. Smith's Report, p. 30. 



127 



with military genius and energy springing 
up with the occasion, and not the graduates 
of the Mihtary Academy. But we ask who 
will be more likely to be thus inspired, than 
those who voluntarily sought the profession 
of arms in their youth, and have devoted 
their lives to its acquirement 1 It is still more 
strongly urged that the militia of our country 
will not submit to be commanded by these 
graduates, and that either they will refuse 
to enlist, " or the earliest discharges of their 
musketry will be to rid themselves of their 
obnoxious commandants, and to devolve the 
duty of command upon some more congenial 
comrade."^ Can such be the language of an 
American citizen, and member of Congress ? 
Is it justified in the least degree by facts ? 
Take, for instance, the Florida war. If there 
has been any fault in its management, it 
should be remembered that the chief com- 
manders there were heroes of the war of 
1812, but not graduates of the Academy. 
Has there been any collision between the 
militia and the officers from West Point, in 

a Mr. Smith's Report, p. 28. 



128 



all this trying service? We believe none, 
absolutely none ; but on the contrary, entire 
harnaony and respect. Far be it from us, 
however, to disparage the merits of the com- 
manders in Florida, who, we sincerely be- 
lieve, have done all that was in their power, 
with the means and materials afforded them, 
to terminate that harassing war, if war it de- 
serves to be called. But we can by no means 
believe that an officer who receives a regular 
military education, thereby forfeits the con- 
fidence or sympathies of his fellow-citizens of 
the militia. As to the privileges which the 
graduates are accused of possessing, we know 
of none but that of serving their country in 
the army, and receiving a superior education 
to fit them for this service. 

The last objection which we have been 
enabled to discover, and the one which re- 
mains to be noticed is, that the academy has 
failed to accomplish the objects for which it 
was established ; and therefore should be 
abolished. An attempt is made to prove this 
by a reference to General Bernard and Colo- 
nel McRee's statement, in 1819, that the 
*' school at West Point has hitherto been 



129 



very inferior as such, and altogether inade- 
quate to the objects for which it was esta- 
blished." But their farther statement, that 
" A project has been presented, to place this 
school upon the footing of the most perfect 
of the kind that exists," the objector has not 
seen fit to notice. Their object was to recom- 
mend the establishment of a School of Prac- 
tice, not as a substitute for the academy, but 
as a supplement to it ; to perfect the knowledge 
therein acquired. In time of peace, when the 
young officers would otherwise be scattered 
at the remote posts, and the troops be dis- 
persed by companies, a school of practice is 
doubtless highly desirable, and even neces- 
sary; but in time of war, when armies are 
wanted in the field, they are the only school 
of practice then needed. If such a school be 
an elementary one, it is only a military aca- 
demy under another name ; but this was not 
the idea of General Bernard and Colonel 
McRee, who intended that it should bear the 
same relation to the West Point Academy, 
that the French School of Practice at Metz, 
bears to the Polytechnic School. 

Turning from authorities on this point, we 



130 



appeal to facts, in proof of the efficiency and 
utility of the Military Academy. The whole 
number of graduates prior to the year 1813, 
was only 88 ; and of this number no fewer 
than eleven were breveted, during the war of 
1812, for distinguished services, five of whom 
are at present colonels or lieutenant-colonels 
in the army. Of the corps of engineers 
during that war, all those commissioned 
prior to 1812, including all the higher offi- 
cers, were graduates of the Academy. "Not 
to speak of others, it was McRee, who on 
the field of Bridgewater suggested the expe- 
diency of that perilous but well-timed order, 
whose successful execution," [by the gallant 
Miller,] " turned the tide of battle ; — and to 
him and to Wood, who fell at the head of his 
column in the sortie from Fort Erie, — may 
justly be ascribed much of the glory of that 
memorable campaign."^ We believe that 
the first successful sortie of an American 
garrison against a besieging army, was that 
of Fort Erie, and that this was first suggested 
and planned by Colonel Wood, who fell so 

« Hon. Ml . Butler's Address, p. 27. 



131 



bravely during its successful execution. Cap- 
tain Ketchum, who captured the British Ge- 
neral Ryall, at the battle of Bridgewater, 
was also a graduate of the Military Aca- 
denny. We nnay also add, that the success of 
the battle of Plattsburg was due, in no small 
degree, to the skilful and energetic efforts of 
Colonel Totten, in fortifying the banks of the 
Saranac, while awaiting the enemy ; General 
Macomb, the commander-in-chief, having 
also been one of the first students of the Aca- 
demy. Colonel Thayer's successful arrange- 
ments for the defence of Norfolk, have al- 
ready been referred to, but should here be 
recalled to mind. Of the first eighty-eight 
graduates, nine fell in battle during the war 
of 1812; eight of whom are not included 
among the brevets already mentioned. Bre- 
vet Lieutenant-Colonel Eleazer D. Wood, of 
the engineers, Colonel James Gibson, of the 
rifle regiment, and Captain Alexander J. 
Williams, of the artillery, fell at Fort Erie, 
in 1814; the latter we believe at the assault 
by which it was taken from the British, and 
the two former at the sortie by which it was 
afterwards successfully defended. Lieute- 



132 



nant Samuel B. Rathbone fell at Queenston 
Heights, in 1812; Lieutenant Henry A. Ho- 
bart, at Fort George, in 1813 ; Lieutenant 
George Ronan, at Chicago, in 1812; Lieu- 
tenants Henry Burchstead and Joseph N. 
Wilcox, at Fort Mimms, in 1812; and Lieu- 
tenant William W. Smith, at Christler's 
Farm, in 1813. 

The whole number of graduates of the 
Military Academy, from its first estabHsh- 
ment to 1840, inclusive, is 1058; of whom, 
according to the last official register, 396 
remain in the military service, besides the 
graduating class of 1840. If to these be added 
the graduates now in the civil service of the 
United States, as engineers or assistants on 
the fortifications, coast survey, and improve- 
ment of rivers and harbours, it will be found 
that there still remain in the public service 
nearly one half of all the graduates of the 
Mihtary Academy, at the end of forty years 
from its first establishment; while no fewer 
than one hundred and seventy-four of the re- 
mainder have died in service or been killed 
in battle. When it is added that the appoint- 
ments in the two regiments of dragoons were 



133 



mostly conferred on citizens, thereby disap- 
pointing reasonable hopes of promotion, and 
introducing many citizens into the service, 
the fact that about two thirds of all the offi- 
cers now in the army, the whole number of 
which, exclusive of the medical, pay, and 
purchasing departments, is six hundred and 
thirty, are graduates of the Military Aca- 
demy, is alone a proof, we think, that this in- 
stitution has not failed of its object. " Our 
whole army," says Colonel Johnson, in his 
Report, " possesses now far more of the 
public respect and confidence than it did not 
many years since. It is the great distinction 
of the Academy at West Point, that it has 
contributed largely and efiectually to this 
elevation of the character of the military 
establishment." More might be quoted, and 
from various sources, in praise of this insti- 
tution ; but we forbear. 

In the Florida war, out of fifteen officers 
killed in battle, ten were graduates of the 
Military Academy. Captain George W. Gar- 
diner, and Lieutenants William E. Basinger, 
Robert R. Mudge, Richard Henderson, and 
John L. Keais, all of the artillery, fell together 

12 



134 



at the bravely fought, but unfortunate battle 
in which Major Dade's command was slain, 
December 28th, 1 835. Lieutenant James F. 
Izard, of the dragoons, was mortally wound- 
ed when in command of the advanced guard 
of General Gaines's army, near the Withla- 
coochee river, February 29th, 1836. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Alexander R. Thompson, Cap- 
tain Joseph Van Swearingen, and Lieutenants 
Francis J. Brooke and John P. Center, all of 
the infantry, fell at the victorious battle of 
Okeechobee, December 25th, 1837. Captain 
Samuel L. Russell, and Lieutenant W. Hul- 
bert, both of the infantry, were killed by the 
Indians in 1839 ; the former near Fort Dallas, 
on the 28th of February, and the latter at 
Mile Creek, on the 2d of May. But the offi- 
cers killed in battle are only a small portion 
of those who have been sacrificed, through 
sickness from exposure, fatigue, or privation, 
during this unfortunate war. In the words of 
a distinguished senator, on the floor of Con- 
gress, " Officers and men have fought it out 
where they were told to fight ; they have been 
killed in the tracks where they were told to 
stand. In no one of our Indian wars have 



135 



our troops so stood together, and conquered 
together, and died together, as they have 
done in this one ; and this standing together 
is the test of the soldier's character." Wit- 
ness the dying words of Basinger, "/am the 
last officer left, — men ! we will do the best we 
can ;" — and of the gallant Thonnpson, " Keef 
steady, men ! Charge the hammock ! Remem- 
ber the regiment to ichich you belong V^^ If 
these are indications of inefficiency in the 
graduates of the Mihtary Acadenny, we have 
nothing more to offer in their behalf. 

We conclude this imperfect sketch of the 
history of West Point, with the following 
lines, written by a lady, gifted of the Muses, 
on visiting this interesting spot. 

Bright are the memories linked with thee, 

Boast of a glory-hallowed land ! 
Hope of the valiant and the free, — 

Home of their youthful soldier-band ! 
Not pilgrim at earth's shrines of pride, 

When fancy's wand the past unveiled, 
E'er bent the heart to feeling's tide. 

E'er thrilled as those who thee have hailed. 

» See Lieutenant Alvord's address, p. 49, 50. 



136 

Proud smiles each spirit-haunted heig-ht, 

Like Guardian Genius of the wave; 
And bathed in sunset's dying light, 

Thou seem'st th' Elysium of the brave ! . . . 
Dearer to us yon mountain's steep, 

Where moss-veiled ruins darkly rise, 
Dearer that turf where proud ones sleep, 

Than all that lures 'neath eastern skies. 

Home of the gallant brave — farewell ! 

Long mayst thou shine, thy country's boast,- 
Her bulwark when strong tempests swell, — 

Her beacon, should all hope seem lost ! 
Long may her sons, — the prized, the true, — 

Be mid thy scenes to glory fired. 
Here bathe the soul in wisdom's dew, 

Be here by genius' light inspired. 



NOTE. 



Since the principal part of the preceding- sketch was 
put to press, the writer has been favoured with a letter 
from General Swift, in reply to a note of inquiry, ad- 
dressed to that gentleman, the answer to which was 
delayed by his absence from home. It contains so 
much valuable information, that its insertion here 
will, it is hoped, be pardoned by its author, and will 
surely gratify those interested in the history of West 
Point. General Swift states as follows : 

" Not only from July, 1812, to January, 1815, but 
also to July, 1817, and indeed to November, 1818, I 
was, as the law prescribes, the Superintendent of the 
Academy ; for the Chief Engineer had no power to 
divest himself of the responsibilities of that office. 
The dates, January, 1815, and July, 1817, have refe- 
rence to official but not statute rule, and were to 
give the Chief Engineer the functions of Inspector, 
and the officer detailed to reside at West Point that of 
Superintendent. The senior officer of engineers, (not 
being the chief,) present at the Point, was considered 
the temporary superintendent, pending the absence 



138 



of the chief, and especially so from 1812 to 1817, at 
which last date, the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, 
introduced the since efficient rule of inspection. The 
duty of the Superintendent, early in the existence of 
the Military Academy, was also that of an instructor; 
but after 1808, the functions of the Chief Engineer 
became more those of a commandant and inspector. 

" The Superintendent, from November, 1816, to 
January, 1817, was especially ordered by the President, 
for the twofold purposes, 1st, of separating the Chief 
Engineer from service with a Foreign Engineer, in 
consequence of remonstrance against the impolitic 
interpolation into the corps that produced the resig- 
nation of the chief in 1818 ; and 2d, to reform certain 
abuses alleged to have arisen at West Point. In 
January, 1817, that officer was ordered to Washington, 
and Captain Partridge left in temporary superinten- 
dence, in which, by order of said chief, he was super- 
seded by Major Thayer, in July of that year. 

" George Baron was the jirst superintendent, and 
the first Professor of Mathematics at the Military 
Academy in 1801. He was succeeded by Major 
Williams, in December, 1801. When said Baron was 
dismissed, in February, 1802, Captain William A. 
Barron, of the corps of engineers, was his successor, 
and continued professor of mathematics until 1807, 
when Professor Hassler took that chair, and continued 
until 1810, when Captain Partridge, the then assistant 
professor, discharged the duty until 1813. Captain 
Mansfield, the first Professor of Philosophy, 1802, 



130 



with Professor Barron, signed the first diploma grant- 
ed at the Military Academy, in 1802. In 1806, the 
philosophical chair was vacated by the absence of 
Professor Mansfield, who, as surveyor-general of Ohio, 
remained absent until 1812. In reference to Mv^ 
Crozet, he was, by permission of the Secretary of War, 
at the request of General Swift, introduced, in 1816, 
as assistant professor of Engineering; and at the in- 
stance of the same officer, was appointed professor in 
1817. 

" Major George Fleming had been, for many yeara 
prior to 1800, military storekeeper at West Point; 
and, during the Revolutionary War, had been sta- 
tioned at that place. When General Swift was a 
cadet there, Major Fleming often mentianed that the 
fort and the stone barrack on Constitution Island, were 
erected and occupied by the Connecticut Line, at 
the same time that similar works and barracks were 
being constructed at West Point, save Fort Clinton, 
which was commenced at a later period on a plan made 
by General Duportail, who also commenced Fort Put- 
nam; which latter work was discontinued, and sub- 
sequently recommenced in 1792, but left unfinished. 
According to Major Fleming's account, Kosciuszko's 
Garden was made by that Polish officer, who formed a 
fountain in the garden, the ruins of which Lieutenant 
Macomb and Cadet Swift discovered, and repaired the 
whole in 1802. 

" In the year 1794, at the recommendation of Gene- 
ral Washington, a military school was commenced at 



140 



West Point, and the building stood on the margin of 
the hollow northwest from the present site of the ice- 
house, and was burnt down by an incendiary in 1796, 
with its contents of books and apparatus. The school 
was suspended until 1801." 

To those gentlemen who have kindly assisted the 
writer, by furnishing information for the preceding 
pages, he would, in conclusion, express his sincere 
acknowledgments; and should any errors be disco- 
vered in the work, he will be alike indebted for their 
correction or for any additional information relating to 
the subject of his labour, cheerfully and voluntarily 
attempted, though of necessity imperfectly performed. 



THE END. 



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